The Mutiny in the Dungeons
by Arhtea
Summary: Tracey Davis returns to her last year in Hogwarts with a plan. While the Golden Trio is camping in the woods and Order of the Phoenix saving muggle-borns, someone has to organize a resistance in Hogwarts. And sometimes a Slytherin resistances is way better than a Gryffindor one.
1. Prologue

**All of the characters and settings belong to J. K. Rowling, I am just borrowing them for a bit.**

Prologue

As headmaster Snape took over Hogwarts and the Golden Trio went on the run, many things in the wizarding world began to change. Most notably, Hogwarts was no longer the safe haven it had been under headmaster Dumbledore. And while all four houses were filled with fear and distrust, nowhere was it as evident as within the cold dungeon walls in the Slytherin common room.

The air there was so thick with tension that one could even cut it with a knife, though as it were, the house elves had taken it upon themselves to hide most of the sharp instruments. And true to the nature of true Slytherins, no one said a thing, opting instead to survey the situation. There was a pretty clear split though. Some of them were outright supporters of the new regime while others were merely focused on the survival of themselves and their loved ones. One day at a time.

Among them Tracey Davis, a 7th year, sat by the fireplace, an open book on her lap and wand between her two fingers. These days most of them had their wands out already or in the holsters in their sleeves. Even the first years had come to school knowing at least one or two defense spells. And on the first night the common room was declared Switzerland. No fighting, no insults. This had in turn led it to be a rather chilly place. It was truly amazing how many insults one could fit inside a simple "Hello" or "Is this seat taken?"

At times like these Tracey sometimes wished she had been sorted into Gryffindor. At least the lines were clear there. Though of course she reflected, being in the house that generally didn't breed treachery, had left them completely vulnerable to people like Pettigrew. Thus whatever little resistance they led would inevitably be at risk of their inability to assume one of their own might betray them. Slytherins of course, would never be at risk for that. "Trust but verify" was Slytherin's unofficial motto. Or rather, "Don't trust. And definitely verify".

Yet somehow, Tracey had to find people she could trust, for she had come to Hogwarts with a plan. It was a public secret that Harry Potter and his two friends were loose somewhere in the wizarding world trying to come up with a way to take down...Voldy. The Order of the Phoenix was also organizing some sort of resistance, if only removing muggle-borns from harms way. And Tracey had come to decide that someone had to do something at Hogwarts too.

Oh she knew of course, that the Gryffindors would try. It was in their nature. But as she had reflected before, Gryffindors had their own fatal flaws. Not to mention that EVERYONE expected something from them. Professors and students alike knew it and the only question was who would emerge as leaders. And then headmaster Snape and the Carrows would no doubt do anything they could to snuff it out quickly. Which would inevitably lead to some sort of brutal battle of wills. During such a time it would be most opportune to wreck some discreet havoc in the way of a Slytherin.

Trouble was, one did not start a revolution on their own. It was hard to find allies and she had to be bloody careful, lest she draw the ire of the supreme idiot in charge. And even headmaster Snape would not be able to protect her then. She did figure he'd protect Slytherins to the best of his abilities. He might have been a git but blood purity views Tracey hadn't detected. If it was a question between a muggle-born Slytherin and a pure-blood Gryffindor, Slytherin won out every time. And it was about time someone put that blatant favoritism to work in service of the greater good. Which left Tracey in the common room, pretending to read up on transfiguration and trying to decide, who might be susceptible to an idea of a mutiny.

Her fellow seventh years were her first choice. Most of them had returned for the year and she knew them best. Perhaps later she could also explore other options. She allowed her eyes to wander over the people in question.

Millicent Bulstrode was a half-blood. Moreover while the name was one featured in the sacred twenty-eight, she was not the first half-blood of that family and really didn't seem that into the whole ideology. She was mostly just trying to survive rather than play for power. And of course if the new regime threatened her muggle mother...Certainly an option.

Pansy Parkinson on the other hand was a bully through and through. What was worse was her rather open endorsement of her father's views and open support of Voldemort. She'd probably try and use this year to bully even more people rather than help anyone. No.

Blaise Zabini was a different matter. One of the more interesting Slytherins, with his mother having a certain kind of a reputation as a black widow...He did see muggles as beneath him, granted. But such was his view on almost everyone, Voldemort and his followers included. Approach with caution. Play on his vanity. Make him understand that if Potter fails, then his career options will be reduced to being Voldy's bitch.

Vincent Crabbe was as mean as he was dumb. Definitely not. Not only did he like torture too much, but he'd also end up accidentally spilling all their plans.

Gregory Goyle was far more likely to be flipped but she had to consider whether she even had use for the boy.

Theodore Nott. Tracey resisted the urge to say „...more like Theodore Not". But it would have been accurate. Death chewer family, mean spirit. And courting Parkinson.

And then there was Draco Malfoy. Oh if only she could turn him...Even on his first night back, he seemed distant and worried, head no longer held high, not even snubbing the half-bloods. Not even Gryffindor half-bloods. But it would be both difficult and dangerous.

Then again the things that were not difficult or dangerous were usually boring. She smiled and looked back at the book. Yes, she'd start with the young Malfoy. After all, what is life without a little excitement? And if she has Malfoy, she has hope. Picking up a fountain pen, she carefully scribbled a few notes on the margins of the book, noting with amusement that somewhere in the castle madam Pince must have felt outraged.


	2. Courting Mister Malfoy

Chapter 1: Courting Mister Malfoy

The year started off just as bad as Tracey had feared. The professors tried to make life as normal as was possible. Most of them anyway. The Carrows were an interesting pair. Tracey thought it would be quite interesting to observe them. Of course, she'd have preferred to observe them from the outside of a secure ward or cell. Amycus was arrogant, sadistic and rude. He had been appointed to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts which had almost immediately dissolved into simply Dark Arts. Alecto was both sadistic and dumb but her Muggle Studies classes did offer a fascinating insight into the mind of a fool and a bigot and Tracey learned a great many things that she would have happily forgotten.

One thing Alecto's lessons did immediately give, was information to Tracey what she was up against. It was in the second lesson, when one of the 7th year Gryffindors (obviously) lost his temper as Alecto had compared muggles to animals. Tracey herself had found delicious irony in a woman who both whined and looked like a pig making that claim. Seamus Finnigan however didn't take it that well. In fact he felt the need to jump up and yell „Liar!". It was a beautiful display of a commendable but generally useless act of courage.

At first Alecto had been too angry to speak and Tracey actually thought she'd hex the boy on the spot. But the woman had managed to calm down enough to demand that Finnigan stay after class instead. He'd arrived late for lunch in the great hall, visibly in pain.

The next week and week after that only worsened. The Carrows grew more comfortable in their positions and tried to effectively quash any difference of opinion while the other professors still tried to keep alive some sense of safety, some light in the darkness. Snape had so far proven quite restrained though. Tracey figured he had to be. He'd been given the task to pacify both the professors at Hogwarts and serve Voldemort's whims. Nevertheless he showed up at every meal that both students and professor alike were obligated to eat in the great hall, looking like bad news. On the other hand it was definitely better to look like bad news rather than be bad news.

The other three houses had so far been so boringly predictable. The Gryffindors began to rebel in either smaller or bigger ways. The Ravenclaws tried to mostly keep their noses down and study. No doubt they were even slightly fascinated at being able to study dark arts. Knowledge was knowledge after all. And from knowledge came power. Hufflepuffs had been the most quiet. It had always very slightly disturbed Tracey. How quiet the Hufflepuffs were. Still waters run deep and all. Though the loyalty thing did occasionally force them to stand up for their friends.

And then there was Draco Malfoy. Mainly the question of how does one approach a Draco Malfoy. Tracey had never been friends with the boy. He had been in the past a rather arrogant bastard. But they did have a civil relationship. When Snape was the head of Slytherin, he'd made it extremely clear that he would not tolerate any kind of infighting. As he reasoned, Slytherins already were at a disadvantage when compared to other houses. There had to be unity inside their own house at least. Still, it would have been odd to completely out of the blue walk up to the boy.

Luckily for Tracey, an opportunity presented itself only three weeks after that first night. It had been a rather boring day with Tracey first learning about some healing potion in Potions and then wondering who the hell thought it was a good idea to teach students such dark curses as Fiendfyre in Dark Arts. Just because you were evil, didn't have to mean that you had to be an idiot. No, even an idiot would have figured that some of those students might use the curses against the Death Eaters themselves. But all of that had led up to a true train-wreck off Alecto's Muggle Studies. It was the first time that Tracey saw the crucio used on a student after Neville Longbottom objected to the depiction of wizards who sympathize with muggles as vermin who had to be exterminated.

The experience itself was quite unpleasant even to watch, Tracey shuddered to think what it was like to actually go through it, but later in the common room miss Parkinson had the great idea to act the whole scene through, complete with mock whining. Tracey mused grimly that if she only knew what a crucio actually felt like, she'd perhaps not have been so joyful. Or perhaps she would not have cared. It takes all kinds to make a world...Though in this case perhaps it would have been appropriate to condemn such difference.

But to the utter surprise of those few in attendance, it was Draco Malfoy who finally stood up. "Enough, Pansy. Nobody wants to see your mediocre acting." He said it in that very same sneer he always used but there was a certain tiredness about him.

Parkinson turned to the boy. "What, are you really going to stand up for a Longbottom? I didn't know the Malfoys had fallen so far."

Malfoy's hand twitched as he considered going for the wand. Everyone in the common room tensed. He stared at Pansy and sneered again. "Even if we have fallen, thankfully we will never reach as low as the Parkinsons. Now stop your screeching. If you want to mock Longbottom I am sure you can do that without acting like a deranged banshee!" With those words he turned around and stalked out of the common room.

Tracey smiled and, after making sure nobody noticed, slipped out the door after Malfoy. He was walking rather quickly toward the nearest stairs and Tracey had to jog to keep up. She did note that it was getting close to the curfew but she could not let her chance run away.

"Wait!" she whispered, the voice nevertheless echoing back far too loudly from the walls.

Malfoy turned sharpely. "What do you want, Davis?"

Tracey inhaled. "I want a word with you. In private!" She hadn't actually thought the pitch through.

Malfoy stared at her, for once looking more curious rather than the usual mix of disgust and boredom. "Why?"

Tracey glanced over her shoulder. She really didn't want to have this conversation so out in the open. "Not here." Without further thought Tracey grabbed Malfoy by his arm and began quickly dragging him up the stairs.

Malfoy must have been rather startled because he didn't even fight back and Tracey managed to drag him up all the way to where a big tapestry hid a small alcove. The favorite place for teenagers from different houses to...make a sort of peace. She finally released Malfoy and cast an imperturbable spell at the tapestry. Malfoy stared at her.

"Well? What do you want, Davis?"

Tracey tucked her wand back into her sleeve and steadied herself against the wall. "I want a mutiny."

Draco Malfoy looked at the girl in front of him in disbelief. Firstly he was unsure that he heared correctly. Secondly he was unsure if he understood correctly. Thirdly he was completely baffled as to what the girl might want from him. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it again. What felt like minutes passed between them in silence until he finally managed to bring himself to respond. "A mutiny, Davis?"

It was a sort of a relief that washed over Davis. The same feeling one gets when they turn in their exam paper. Whether they did good or bad, it was by now all in the lap of the gods. And since she had taken the leap already, what came next was inevitable. "I want to do my part to keep Hogwarts safe and help bring down...the current regime." Malfoy blinked. Tracey thought she could hear crickets in the background. Crickets in the dungeons...

"I'm a Death Eater. I have a dark mark." Tracey nodded. Malfoy began to doubt her sanity. "What makes you think I won't just run to the Carrows? Or Snape?"

She shrugged. "I don't think you actually want to be a death chewer."

She was right of course. Even as he'd taken the dark mark, he'd been influenced mostly by the safety of his family. But, Merlin, he could not do it. He had no business rebelling now. When the faiths of his family members were still in the hands of...that. So Draco Malfoy once again resorted to his familiar sneer. "If you want to be a part of some stupid rebellion, go join Gryffindors."

Tracey rolled her eyes as she was assured that Malfoy would not go tell on her. "I am a Slytherin. I don't jump up in the middle of class calling a sadistic bitch a liar. Nor do I feel the need to make a stand against some cruel bastard teaching me dubious curses. I'd like something more...subtle..."

It was...dammit, she was actually almost convincing him. Malfoy ran a hand through his for once imperfect blonde hair. "That...do you even have a plan?"

Tracey smiled. "I might have. But first I must know if you are joining me or not. As you said, you have a dark mark. And I am not a Gryffindor. I won't trust you just because you look like it."

Malfoy hesitated. For a moment he actually considered it. Then reality caught up. "I can't. My family-,"

Tracey shook her head. "That is exactly why you should fight. If you truly took the mark for your father...You know that Voldy won't let anyone rule but himself. You will only ever be an afterthought. Your parents have fallen from his graces and even they get back in...Do you really want to serve a master who might kill or torture you just because he had a bad day? He has no honor. And even if you have loyalty to him, he'll never be loyal to you!"

"Your speech is too like a Gryffindor. Talking of honor and loyalty."

Tracey shook her head. "I am talking like a Slytherin. Voldy is but a hindrance in a path to be great and powerful. And you know Potter is coming back to fight him too. What if he wins? What then? You'll have nothing and your family would be thrown into Azkaban!"

Finally she had thrown at him every single argument she had. Something had to stick...Draco Malfoy had leaned back against the opposite wall and inhaled. "This is a stupid idea. We will get caught."

"Not if we are clever about it. And you are a Death Eater. If worst happens, you'll just pretend you caught me being up to no good. Not to mention that your godfather is the headmaster. He'll help." Granted the last part didn't sound too convinced. But Malfoy was sold. She could see it in his eyes.

"Fine. But I am not a Gryffindor either. I need something. So I know I can trust you, Davis."

Tracey grinned. "I'm all ears."


	3. Proving Loyalties

**To SB- Potterhead Budgie Lover:** I actually haven't decided yet :) Basically just got bored in class and started writing and will see, where it takes me.

Chapter 2: Proving Loyalties

The principal of the thing was simple. If two people both have something to hold over the other, then neither can go spilling secrets. It will come back to harm them. Of course first you need something for both parties to hold over the other. Which basically led to Draco Malfoy and Tracey Davis out after curfew doing something very Gryffindorish for very Slytherin reasons.

Tracey bit her lip and glanced around the wall at the corridor. It was empty save for a few paintings. Thankfully though most of the paintings now stayed silent even when they saw students out of bed. Drawing the attention of the Carrows just seemed too much of a punishment for simply breaking curfew.

"When I said I was all ears, I wasn't really expecting this."

Malfoy glared at her. "I said I had to be able to trust you in order to do this, Davis. And this way I can trust you. Unless of course you'd rather go back to the Slytherin common room and forget our little conversation?"

Tracey sent him a poisonous look. "Shut up already. I'm doing it, aren't I?" She inhaled sharply and looked down at the small pile of supplies in her lap. "Right." She began moving forward, towards the doors of the great hall. She stopped quietly and took a deep breath. "Will you at least keep watch for me?" Malfoy sent her another glare but then moved a little so he'd have a better view of stairs and all the corridors.

Tracey turned to the doors and got to work. Slowly and carefully. She'd chosen to do it without magic so it took a little longer. But according to perfects' patrolling schedule she'd managed to copy, they had about fifteen minutes until the next patrol would come along. Fifteen minutes had to be enough.

She worked as quickly as she could before finally taking a step back to examine her work. It looked good. Well, it looked bad. Many detentions worth of bad. She also felt a twinge of guilt as she thought of the headmaster. Snape might have been a git but at least he was no Umbridge. This was clear by the fact that the headmaster's office had not sealed itself from him like it had done with that rabid bitch. Of course one hardly had to do a lot to be better than Umbridge. But still, he didn't need anymore stuff on his plate...

Malfoy's urgent whisper pierced the silence. "Davis, done? We have to go!"

She snapped herself out of it and nodded, flicking her wand and vanishing the supplies, then ran to Malfoy and under his invisibility cloak they headed back towards the dugeons. On her way down she did her best to not think about the Carrows discovering the deed. Instead she focused on the vanishing spell, wondering, what actually happened to stuff that it was used one. Professor McGonagall had said that it causes objects to go into non-being...but Tracey was uncertain how one would actually confirm that. And whether in fact there wasn't simply a separate dimension filled with all the vanished stuff floating around in the void.

"Davis? DAVIS?" Tracey blinked as Malfoy pulled her into the common room and the door closed behind them. She shook away the miscellaneous sci-fi theories and turned to the boy.

"So now what? You are convinced that I can be trusted? After all, if anything happens, you can just tell your godfather that it was all my doing."

Draco walked over to the fireplace and chose an armchair. "Sure, Davis."

Tracey huffed and sat down too, on the arm of the couch, balanced on her left leg. "Right."

After a moment she did nod. Draco had been given something and his own complicity was her insurance. It was time to move on. "So now that we trust each other, you can call me Tracey."

Draco nodded. "As we are properly connected to each other...what exactly is your plan?"

Tracey made herself comfortable and cast a quick spell to keep their conversation between themselves. "Just one more question. You can occlude, right? My father taught me last summer." He'd almost forbidden her from going back before she did. Taught her a few good spells too. And threatened that if he heard anyone had laid so much as a hand on her, they'd have to answer to him.

Draco gazed at the fire. "Yes, yes I can. My aunt taught me."

"Good." She hesitated for a moment, wanting to ask about Voldemort, but it was probably going too far. He was already taking a risk. "My plan is mostly to keep hope alive and try and weaken them as much as I can. So that Potter's job could be a bit easier." With that she went into the finer details.

By morning Tracey had almost forgotten what she had done the night before. Almost. If she had not been rather rudely awakened at five and nearly dragged out of bed. The girls in the dorm were all freaked out about something and as she tried to tame her messy morning hair she managed to drag a few words out of an equally sleepy Millicent. Apparently headmaster Snape had ordered an 6 o'clock meeting before even breakfast began. The way that Millicent spoke about it, Alecto Carrow had shown up a few minutes before, screeching not unlike a banshee. Or perhaps Pansy. It must have been something bad if even the Slytherins were getting that kind of a treatment.

And curiously Tracey had completely forgotten about what she had done the night before. In fact, she did not recall it even as she and the rest of the Slytherin house was ushered by the perfects out of the dungeons and up the stairs Even as they met the sleepy Gryffindors and Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, everyone with their ties on crooked or robes thrown on in a hasty manner and still wearing bed hair. In fact it was not until they all came to a halt in front of the doors to the great hall and Tracey laid eyes on her handy work and Draco leaned over to whisper in her ear:"Now, Trace, I can truly trust you." So Tracey looked at her own creation and shuddered at the thought of anyone ever learning she was the one who did it. Now in the completely lit up hallway no one could have mistaken what they were seeing for something even remotely innocent:

 _Rest in peace, Dumbledore. And death to Voldemort's whore._


	4. The Slytherin Way

**To sincerityessential:** I hope it is a little easier to read now. And I'm really glad you like it :)

Chapter 3: The Slytherin Way

The backlash from the message had been bad. Snape himself had not done much but the Carrows had gone into a frenzy. A rumor in the hallways said that common rooms were searched. Not the dungeons though. Not that they'd find anything anyway. Still, one had to love confirmation bias. And it meant that they were free to proceed so Tracey set out to recruit more. Draco had been rather against the idea but she had insisted. One does not take over a castle with just one ally. And as she had had the insolence to point out, the Gryffindors were not doing it alone and that was the one good idea they had this year. Indeed, every day there seemed to be more of them popping out and Carrows slapping them back into their place like some perverted came of whack-a-mole.

Tracey was actually worried about it. Even though she knew very well that the message on the great hall door was not done by a Gryffindor, they seemed to have gotten quite a bit of courage from it and were now painting slogans like „Dumbledore's Army is recruiting" all over the walls. The Carrows themselves now patrolled the halls and they were using crucio quite liberally as well as delegating the punishing duties to some of the more eager students. A few Slytherins naturally but even a couple of Ravenclaws. If Tracey was going to do something, she had to do it quickly before one or two of those idiots got killed.

As anticipated, Millicent Bulstrode was easy. Underneath the rough exterior was a gentle girl who was really quite afraid and outraged at the things happening. Tracey had approached her in the dorm after they'd seen the Weasel girl get punished by Alecto. She'd been afraid but then as Tracey rationalized, courage didn't mean one was not afraid. It was the recognizing that something else was more important than one's fear. After that she'd agreed.

Blaise Zabini was a little more difficult but Tracey's ultimate argument stood. He was vain and simply would not be able to handle a world where he had to constantly live under someone like Voldemort.

So now with four people in their camp, they went to work. Things had worsened in Hogwarts to the point that one could scarcely see a happy face in the hallways. Carrows were completely in charge of discipline and the punishments seemed to get progressively more brutal. Other professors had tried to stand up to them but it was clear that the headmaster either didn't want or more like couldn't take their side against the Carrows. McGonagall had been openly threatened with firing. So was madam Pomfrey. And if the healer had left Hogwarts...well, that was unthinkable to anyone, especially the woman herself.

At first they just did subtle things like cause the more vicious Slytherins not to be in the position to find any Gryffindors where mischief was about. Millicent was quite adept at that, even going so far as to trip all over Nott as he was in hot pursuit of some Ravenclaw boy by the name of Michael Corner, who had snuck younger students out of detention. Nott was outraged but not really suspicious. The other time Tracey had discreetly reinforced the wards on a supply closet full of the Weasley brothers products, when mister Finnigan had so carelessly left it for all to find. Even Draco did his part. They had in fact discovered, that Alecto had the tendency to go on long rants of glory when ever someone asked about Voldemort in the right way. This was most fortunate as she also seemed to have the memory of a goldfish. Thus sometimes when she got some poor second or third year in sight, Draco would merely ask:"How did the Dark Lord manage x" and then lean back to wait until the woman had talked long enough to forget all about the miscreant.

It wasn't nearly enough though. Small things got one craving for bigger things. But they needn't have worried, a real chance for the mutineers, as Blaise had somehow inexplicably decided to call them, came actually very soon. Namely with Ginevra Weasley being found out to have been Potter's girlfriend and, even worse, the Carrows deciding to have Draco torture her for information. Apparently they found it funny.

Tracey didn't find it even a bit funny. She didn't know how much Ginny knew. She didn't even actually care how much Ginny new. But the logic was simple. Ginevra cannot die. If she did, it would wreck havoc with at least two thirds of the golden trio. And would either lead to „the savior of the wizarding world" going dark or worse, turning vindictive and try something that would get him killed. And as much as Tracey thought of herself, she did not fancy having to find a new savior or even worse, take on the mantle herself.

Draco wasn't amused either. He didn't beg for the others to help. Because a Malfoy almost never begged. But he asked in his own condescending manner, implying heavily that he'd end up breaking her and inevitably causing the spilling of secrets. Which was as good as saying „Please don't make me torture some poor girl".

So yeah, that was how Tracey was pacing a dungeon corridor trying to come up with a plan. A plan that would ensure that they'd leave Ginny Weasley alone. She couldn't just bloody well go and throw dungbombs at the door of the damn room until everyone ran out.

And suddenly she had an idea. Not a very good idea but an idea nevertheless. She pulled out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it for Malfoy.

After this they had to figure out some better way of communication. But for now she concentrated on delivering the message to Draco and then another one to Blaise. Then she rushed back to the Slytherin common room.

Draco meanwhile read through the inscription on the paper and then carefully set in on fire with the flick of a wand. It was cryptic enough but he had no choice anyway. Still, with a heavy heart he walked down to the dungeons where the Carrows had ordered him to be. The two death eaters were already there. As was Ginevra Weasley. She was sitting in the room, a look of contempt on her pretty face. She openly snarled as she saw Malfoy enter.

Draco tried not to look her in the eye nor think of her as Ginny. Nothing personal. No petnames...Instead he raised his wand and cast the unforgivable. The girl fell back and cried in agony. But Draco didn't stop. Because like that insolent Tracey would never stop saying, they were not Gryffindors. He cast the spell again, trying to keep it restrained. Unfortunately auntie Bella had never been one to teach restraint.

As he opened his mouth to declare „Crucio" for the third time, the dungeon doors flew open to reveal a very angry McGonagall followed by madame Pomfrey.

„What is the meaning of this?" she demanded with a tone that could have made stones cower in fear. Malfoy stopped mid-spell.

„Why are you letting one student torture another?" demanded the woman.

Finally Amycus snapped out of the surprise. „Might I remind you, McGonagall, that you are not the one in charge here!"

It was an over-used statement but looks could have killed everyone present. If they held that power of course. And luckily they didn't.

„She has information on Potter and she will give it to us," shrieked Alecto. „And you shall do well to keep out of it." She waved her wand menacingly at McGonagall. Though she was probably menacing only in her mind. It really looked like a monkey in front of a rhinoceros.

Professor McGonagall forced her tone to that icy calm that seemed to cut like with a knife. „She. Is. My. Student. And. You. Will. Release. Her. Now."

„Well, we shall just see what the headmaster has to say about this." Amycus smiled cruelly.

* * *

Except that the headmaster had his hands quite full at that very moment. A Slytherin with a problem had come to him asking to talk. It wasn't unusual for his former charges to come to him rather than Slughorn. While the man was great at potions, the older ones simply didn't trust him enough. And at the same time he was too much of a Slytherin. One of the few authentic ones in fact not marred by the whole blood purity thing and only ever out out for their own selfish needs. And if a muggle-born was useful to him personally, then their blood status was irrelevant.

But all that meant was that sometimes one did not want to give up their deeper problems to a man like that. Even if he seemed like he'd never use them. So Snape pinched the bridge of his nose and looked down at Millicent Bulstrode. It was some complicated emotional issue that seemed so trivial with the whole Voldemort problem. But Snape HAD cultivated a certain amount of trust with his Slytherins and didn't just want to throw her out. She had always been a bit shy and somewhat worrying.

It was boy trouble. Since when had he allowed himself to become so familiar with his charges that they came to him with boy trouble? He wanted to kick her out, he truly did. Problem was that he couldn't bring himself to. As much as he'd never admit it, it was better than getting hateful glares from the staff or listen to "idiot number one" and "idiot number two" complain about students. The clock on the wall was ticking away but right now the least he could do was help some teenager with a kind word. Or kind silence. Or not snarling...

* * *

„She is not leaving until she has told us every bit of information she has on the Potters!" declared Amycus. „She was his girlfriend. She has to know something!"

„Girlfriend?" Tracey snarled as she walked into the dungeon. „I'd hardly consider it a relationship. She's been with everyone who'd take her. Michael Corner, a couple of Hufflepuffs...even Blaise had a go." Ginny's eyes shot up to look at the girl and the girl sent her a vicious glare.

„What? Is that true, Malfoy?" Amycus turned to Draco who was silent for a moment before nodding slowly. „I didn't pay much attention to what she did. But I recall Blaise gloating about sneaking around with a Gryffindor queen!" It was technically true enough. Even if it was just the once and not exactly in the right timeframe.

In other circumstances, McGonagall might have chastised the two Slytherins. But these were not normal kinds of circumstances and she took it as the gift it was. „If she was not Potter's girlfriend," the older woman argued, „Then you have no reason to expect that she knows anything. So I must insist that you end this now."

Alecto wanted to argue but for now at least they were not quite confident enough to do it without the headmaster and not quite stupid enough to try and duel McGonagall. „This is not over. I shall be talking to headmaster Snape about this. We shall see if he agrees with you!" With that she stormed out followed by her brother.

* * *

„Miss Bulstrode, I really am afraid I can't help you!" stated Snape after he had entertained the girl for about fifteen minutes. He had at least gotten a blissful quarter of an hour without Carrows. Without Carrows. He had to repeat the thought again. Then he looked at the girl. It couldn't have been. But then...

„Miss Bulstrode, am I right in assuming that you are stalling me?" The girl blinked. „I'm sure I don't know what you mean!"

* * *

Professor McGonagall had ushered the Slytherins rather unkindly to their common room. Though she did ask that they send Blaise Zabini back to talk to her. When he slinked back into the common room and gave them a rather grim nod. Apparently after Snape had thrown Millicent out of his office with a rather firm warning about trying to be Slytherin with him, McGonagall had stormed into his office armed with a couple of hazy memories of Blaise and Ginny with the former's tongue down the latter's throat. It was enough for Snape to sternly warn Carrows about any unsanctioned interrogations in the future. And curiously enough he didn't even confront Millicent about the issue...Tracey filed it under "Worth looking into". But as for Ginny Weasley, she was not targeted again for the offense of being Potter's girlfriend.


	5. All Hallows' Eve

Chapter 4: All Hallows' Eve

All Hallows' Eve had always been a special occasion in Hogwarts. The usual feast had still been organized, with Snape deciding that the students needed at least an illusion of normality. And yet of course it was just that. A mere illusion. While the room was decorated and tables filled to the brim with fancy foods and candy of all kinds, under the laughs of most of the students, lurked a certain sense of dread. They ate quickly and even slipped candy in their pockets to then escape the hall early. And the Hogwart's Ghosts had not shown up in some sort of a strange protest against celebrating at a time like this.

But there was another kind of anticipation too. A wish for something to happen. As far as Tracey could remember, quite a bit of freaky stuff had happened on All Hallows' Eve. Her first year a troll in the dungeons, second year the Chamber of Secrets re-opening, third year Sirius Black breaking into the school wielding a knife (Which by the way did not aide his claim of "I am not a homicidal maniac"). Even fourth year the Goblet of Fire had been arranged to draw names after that feast...Certainly in the last two years things had calmed. But this was Tracey's last year to beat all of these Gryffindors taking all the glory and attention.

First things first though. Tracey risked a glance toward Draco who was in a rather unfortunate position between Crabbe and Pansy. And Pansy seemed to be slobbering yet again all over the poor boy, despite Nott's presence and ugly glares. It was pathetic really...how she'd lick the boots of anyone, who had a tiny bit of power. But most opportune.

Draco had just the position to slip the potion into her drink and while Nott was viciously stabbing at his pumpkin pie as if it was some venomous creature, Millicent acted quite gracefully to dose him too. That was two of the most vicious bastards done.

Which left the Gryffindors. Blaise was working on it in the Gryffindor common room. He'd borrowed Malfoy's invisibility cloak and hopefully getting into position now.

Tracey glanced at her small pocket watch and exhaled. Almost go time. Across form her Draco nodded once, almost unnoticeable, and Tracey pushed down on the small green stone on her silver ring.

The ring had actually been Millicent's suggestion. It was a sort of a play on the dark mark. Except less permanent and less evil. She'd thought it up after they almost got caught by Amycus because Draco could not get the info about her to Blaise quickly enough. The ring was a way to send a few basic messages like "Danger", "Caught, stay away" and "All clear". In addition they had been infused with magical signatures in such a way that random persons couldn't just send messages if a ring fell in the wrong hands.

A few second passed and then the ring glowed a soft blue with the delicate letter "Z" glowing in the center. Satisfied, Tracey brushed over the ring again and grabbed her bag, slipping in a few handfuls of candy. Then she nodded once more at Draco. This was answered with a not a very happy glare of "Why is it that *I* get Pansy duty?"

She smiled back. Into every life a little rain had to fall. With that Tracey walked out of the great hall, taking care to bump into a Gryffindor. The ever so lovely Ginevra Weasley.

"Hey, watch where you're going, snake!"

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was kind of hoping I could slither away quietly. Lot's of evil things to do, you know. Mustn't be delayed!" replied Tracey perkily and waltzed out of the hall, knowing that everyone's eyes were on her. Even Snape had for a second raised his dark scowl before focusing back on his pumpkin juice that simply HAD TO be laced with something far stronger.

* * *

Preparations were all done by the end of the feast. Blaise had snuck out of the Gryffindor common room and met up with Millicent, who had then sent the go sign. They were all waiting on Draco.

The dungeon corridors were dark and cool. Tracey leaned against the stone wall and tried to keep her breathing even. Just then the ring lit up in soft green and she pulled out her wand. Let's do this.

Millicent was hiding near the Carrows' quarters. As she saw them go in, she pulled out her own wand and quickly cast a series of spells against detection and to lock the door. It was an easy spell to break. But for good measure she had brought with her a metal chain that she put through the door handles and sealed it. It would have been most unfortunate if the Carrows were to get out too early.

Draco looked up at the windows of classroom 3C. He was clutching his broom in one hand. With one swift motion he mounted it and headed upwards. They'd assessed the classroom. Carrow-the-mean-one had started to lock the door very carefully with some intruder proof spells. But Blaise had managed to sneak a window open slightly. Should be enough to leverage it fully. And since Draco was by far the best flier of them all, then he was the one outside in the cold. Honestly, if Pansy had been bad...

Still, if he'd had Tracey's job, he'd not have felt that bad. At least that was Tracey's view as she stalked the corridors really hoping that Draco had done his job properly and the Slytherin perfects were now in a rather bad state within their own rooms. She moved to the first floor to where the Muggle Studies Classroom was located. Which didn't involve any lying, just the risk of running straight into the lap of some teacher. Though these days most adults, with the exception of Carrows and perhaps headmaster Snape, would only send a student to bed with a stern warning. Sometimes even a slip that would offer them an excuse for being out that late.

Luckily Carrow-the-ugly-one was not very careful. Perhaps because her weapons of choice were words. It was the most basic lock that one _Alohomora_ pushed open and once inside, Tracey felt much more relaxed. After all, these days scarcely anyone went into THAT classroom willingly.

There on the table she found a book. The book of punishments. It was a marvelous little thing, holding all the detentions that a teacher had dolled out. One might not have had need for that but Carrows had been handing the detentions out like Snape handed out points to Slytherins. Though to be fair he did it so much only because he knew others were biased to take the points away.

And thus the Carrows had need for a book to fit in all these punishments. Which was, Tracey found, rather careless of them. She flipped the book open and began moving through dates.

Outside in the cold Draco was doing much the same thing with the exception of trying first to leverage open the window to the classroom. When it finally came loose, he stumbled inwards and nearly fell off his broom.

Nevertheless all these years of Quidditch had given him something and he managed to quickly swing himself into the classroom. He jumped elegantly off the broom and, pulling off his dragonhide gloves went for the table.

The idea was to modify the book of punishments slightly so a few things were different. Unfortunately they couldn't do that much. They could not risk the Carrows catching on. But, it was war. There was not going to be either an easy or a clean ending.

Blaise on the other hand was quite happy with everything. He had spelled the Gryffindor common room and then when everyone was in, activated it. A little Halloween trick just for them. With the added bonus of if anyone wanted to claim that they had tried to meddle with the punishment books, they'd have the perfect alibi in being knee deep inside one of the Weasleys' finest portable swamp. And yes. They were Gryffindors. They deserved to be tricked on All Hallows' Eve. Because even at war he was a Slytherin.

They met back at the Slytherin common room and then disappeared into the upstairs room that had been given to Draco Malfoy.

"So, everyone done?" asked Blaise as he pulled out the last remains of the swamp packaging and then lit them on fire.

Draco sent him a glare. "Do you have to do that over my nice and expensive carpet?"

Blaise rolled his eyes at the other boy and wanted to retort but at that moment Millicent pushed a bin forward so it ended up right under Blaise's little fire. "Could you not do that perhaps? Fight every minute? We are supposed to be on the same side..."

Blaise shrugged and let the remains of his fire drop into the bin. It wasn't that he didn't like Draco so much as he didn't like most people. He tolerated them. And sometimes he formed alliances. But sometimes he had to make mean comments.

"Yes, everything should be in order. I charmed Alecto's book and Draco charmed Amycus'es." Tracey plopped down in one of the chairs and exhaled. "What of the Carrows?"

Millicent fished out a sweet she had pocketed in the great hall and unwrapped it "The Carrows are fine. Blaise?"

"Done and done. The Gryffindors won't know what him them!" Tracey rolled her eyes but kept her mouth shut.

* * *

The next morning was quite remarkable. What with the Gryffindors trying and failing to get out of their common room. The professors again were no match against Weasleys' swamp but luckily Ginny had had a little more experience with her brothers and in a few hours the thing was gone, leaving only quite a bit of clean up to do.

The Carrows were not so lucky. It seemed that either by accident or...well, probably by accident, would Millicent have done such a thing on purpose? No one made it to them and while they removed some spells on their own, the chain in the door proved a real challenge. A challenge that for some inexplicable reason no one tried to help them with. Not even professors walking by. Not even the headmaster.

It took them nearly the whole day to get out. Once they did, they predictably screeched that it was the fault of these damn Gryffindor bastards. But apparently not even Snape could deny that they had all been locked up since late last night. Right as the last of them entered their dorms.

And for some reason as the days went past, every now and then some of the punishments would fall through the cracks. Disappear a bit after they had been written down. It wasn't much, true, but some of the younger kids, some half-bloods, didn't have to face the cruciatus curse. That had to count for something...

Still, Tracey got the creeping feeling they had not done enough. There had to be something more they could do. Something real...


	6. While the Lions Play with Swords

Chapter 6: While the Lions Play with Swords...

"Trace, all this sneaking around and pulling pranks is all well and good, but we need to hit them harder. Something that will actually help with the fight," stated Draco snapping his fingers impatiently.

Tracey looked up at him with a half-amused grin. "You seem unusually enthusiastic."

Draco shrugged. "Look, all I'm saying is that if I am risking a lot with Voldy," it was their go-to name now for Voldemort. Helped to lessen the fear but also didn't attract the snatchers, „Then we might as well do some real actual damage. And DON'T give me the "We are not Gryffindors" speech again. I know THAT. I've spent six years in the same house as you. I'm just saying that even sneaky things can be effective."

"Oh yeah, like what?" Tracey wasn't actually opposed to any such ideas. Just a little skeptical.

"Well," Draco pushed himself up on his elbows and glanced at her. "We could mess around with their potions. I know they are using Veritaserum on students. I think we could change it up with water. You know how dumb the Carrows are? They won't think to check the magic about the stuff. And no one spilling any secrets."

That actually got Tracey's attention. She put away her book and turned towards Draco:"Okay, I'm listening. We go after the potions. But how? There must be a million wards there. And might I remind you, it has to be done with care cause if it looks like a break-in, the more likely they are to start checking magic. Snape too." Of course with Snape it was a die roll whether he'd spill their secrets. But better yet not to put him in that position.

"So we need a diversion?" Draco chewed his lip thoughtfully. "I suppose we could organize something...though I'd like Gryffindors for this."

"Hey, you want to contact them? Be my guest. But I don't think they'll be receptive to any ideas from you." Tracey wasn't even sure she'd want to involve Gryffindors even if they were open to the idea. Too many loose ends. And lips.

Just then the door to the perfect dorm where Draco and Tracey were lounging, flew open and, like a god from the machine, Blaise stormed in. "You'll never guess what just happened. The three Dumblerites, they just got caught trying to break into the Headmaster's office!"

"What?" Tracey nearly leaped up from the couch. "What on earth were they trying to do?"

"Steal something is my guess," Blaise slinked into an armchair. "Or just get back at professor Snape. The word is, they are up there now. In a screaming match between him and the Carrows! One of the fifth years said they could hear it two floors down."

"This is it!" Draco jumped up. "There's your distraction."

"Ehm, what?" Blaise gave the other boy a glance. "Finally lost your mind, Malfoy?"

"Shut up, Blaise. Look, we needed a distraction. These three are going to be very occupied now. First with the three little trouble-makers and then with checking Snape's office and then just general shouting. And we are going to spend that time wisely. By breaking into the potions storage!"

Blaise blinked a couple of times. "We are what now?"

"Going to break into the potions storage. Do try to keep up with things."

Tracey took a deep breath and sighed softly:"We don't even have a plan, Draco."

"I know but we won't get another chance so good,"

"Yeah, don't be a buzzkill, Trace!" added Blaise cheerfully, "If Draco wants to self-destruct..."

Tracey sent him a glare. "Oh no, darling, you are coming to the self-destruct thing too. We will need to keep an eye on the office. Just so there aren't any unexpected surprises."

She turned around to Draco:"And Mills. I've heard she is very good at unlocking spells."

"So we're really going to do this? We are going to break into the most secure damn cupboard in this place?" Blaise's tone was dripping with sarcasm, "Just like that?"

"Oh don't tell me you're afraid, Blaisey-deary!" Draco ducked missing the heavy potions book that came flying his way and grinned. "There's my brave little boy. Now let's go. We need to use the time given to us."

Blaise sent Tracey a glance asking for help but she just shrugged. "He wants to do it. And it would be something that could really chance things!"

* * *

Blaise had not exaggerated. The whole castle seemed to be focused on the headmaster's office, filled with loud shouting from the Carrows mixed with the voices of Minerva McGonagall and Filius Flitwick. The other professors it seemed had been kicked out of the office, and headmaster Snape was more than willing to wait for the shouting to die down on its own without his help. And all eyes were focused there. Even the perfects. As Blaise and Tracey snuck up to see the office, they saw miss Parkinson chatting with Nott and a couple of other Slytherins in a joyous manner. Evidently she thought this might even be the end for the meddlesome Gryffindors and the loony Ravenclaw girl.

Blaise and Tracey had borrowed Draco's invisibility cloak and were now hiding under it, just in case the Carrows would feel like leaving the party early. From under there they saw Horace Slughorn in his most passionate state as well as professor Sprout, who seemed she might explode. But no one was to go into the headmaster's office.

"Hey, Trace, what if they wish to call for Veritaserum to be used on the Dumblerites?"

Tracey nearly jumped as suddenly she felt Blaise breath on her neck and whisper into her ear. She inhaled a few times before answering:"Well, then we are pretty much screwed, thank you for asking."

After a few seconds she reconsidered and added:"I believe the esteemed Headmaster likes to keep his own Veritaserum at hand. Or he will just legilimens them. At least we can put all of our hopes in that. Or we shall find out how fast Mills and Draco can run!"

"So what you are saying is, pray they won't?" replied Blaise with a snarl. "Brilliant!"

* * *

In fact at least for now Draco and Mills were not doing much running. They were crouched over the potions cupboard at the back of the potions classroom and trying to get the damn thing open. The classroom had been easy enough. But even Slughorn hadn't left such an important thing as the potions cupboard, where he stored all the samples as well as some other things, that they might need, but would be dangerous to students.

To Draco's amazement, when Millicent had first tried with spells and failed, she swiftly pulled out a hairpin and began working on the lock manually. Draco opened his mouth to ask where a girl would learn such things but then figured he didn't want to know. Instead he focused on trying to make sure the door had no extra alarms on it.

But very soon under her fingers, the door swung open effortlessly and Millicent grinned in a rather self-satisfied way. It seemed, that with everyone so focused on magic, sometimes they'd forgotten such simplest things as muggle lock-picks. She placed the pin back into her carefully styled hairdo and gestured at Draco. The boy nodded and pulled the door open slowly.

"Well, Millicent, welcome to the candy shop!"

* * *

"What if they kill the Dumblerites?" asked Blaise after a few moments, with, to Tracey's surprise, actual concern in his voice.

Tracey huffed, annoyed that her little friend would not shut up. While she would not admit it, she too was nerves. And whenever she was nervous, she tended to get rather irritable and angry. "Look, you want to run in there and be their savior?" She took a deep breath and dug her nails into her palm to calm down before she managed to blew the whole thing up in their faces. "They are not going to kill the Dumblerites. Because the Dumblerites are pure-bloods." She had to believe that. "And anyway, they got themselves into this mess. Not us!"

She closed her eyes and tried to calm down. "Why do you call them Dumblerites anyway?"

"What should I call them Dumbledorians then?" Blaise sighed. "I'm sorry. I know you are nervous too."

At that moment the door flew open with a bang and an outraged Alecto followed by Amycus stormed out. Tracey nearly choked and stumbled out of the way as they stormed past.

"Now what?" hissed Blaise.

Tracey made a split-second decision. "After them. Now!"

* * *

In the potions classroom Draco and Millicent were blissfully unaware of any and all commotion. They were busy picking out the bottles of Veritaserum and replacing the contents with clear water.

"So, do you think this will work?" Millicent corked the bottles that Draco was handing her and placed them back on the shelves with care.

"Well, it'd better!" he looked back at her and then up at the potions. "So much stuff we could use."There were rows of dreamless sleep and some pain potions and even the liquid luck potion.

"We can't take anything. They'll notice." stated Millicent softly.

"And then they'll check the Veritaserum too." Draco nodded, with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"At least we can neutralize the Veritaserum." Millicent glanced up at him and tried to soothe Draco. She understood the boy's want to take all the potions and start a war all too well. After all, both of his parents were in constant grasp of the mad lord.

After a few seconds of fighting inwardly, Draco nodded. "You are right of course." But his eyes wandered onto a specific potion way at the back. It had been sealed and looked like it had stayed on the shelf for years and years. Surely so far in the back it would go unnoticed...

He pushed that thought away and kept carefully vanishing the Veritaserum, then replacing it with water.

* * *

Blaise and Tracey were doing their best to keep up with the Carrows as the two raced through the halls apparently not going anywhere in particular. They picked up pieces from the incoherent screeches.

"To throw us out-„

"We should have the right to decide-„

"Those snivelling brats!"

"Arrogant bastards!"

Tracey leaned closer to Blaise:"There, see. Snape won't kill them. You know that."

"Well, Snape doesn't kill SLYTHERINS...Oh hell!" Blaise yanked Tracey's arm. "They are going to the dungeons!"

Tracey froze. And then unfroze just enough to do something she later was not very proud of. She pulled out an apple from her robes and threw it straight at Amycus Carrow's head.

* * *

"Are we almost done yet?" asked Millicent.

"Just about. They have a lot of Veritaserum here!" replied Draco handing over the last couple of bottles. Then he stood up and sneaking a glance and seeing that Millicent was busy, pulled the dusty bottle off the shelf and slipped it into the folds of his robe, quickly casting a spell to remove any disturbance in the dust.

"Alright, done. Now to get out of here." They closed the cupboard and Draco walked over to the door just in time to hear a loud shriek of "Bastards" followed by a loud thud and the ring on his finger flashed a bright red with a "D" in the center.

* * *

"Can you tell me just WHY you have chosen this exact time to lose your freaking mind?" hissed Blaise.

"Less running more talking!" was Tracey's answer as she already took off, almost dragging Blaise behind her and fingers over her ring focusing with all her might to keep Draco inside the potions classroom. She didn't even have the time to worry about their heels peeking out from the invisibility cloak clearly to see each time they moved, flashing in the dark corridor.

Blaise took off running, thought still taking the opportunity to add:"Surely you mean that the other way around, love?"

The only thing they had going for them was that the Carrows had suddenly forgotten they were magical, as they followed the two pairs of zigzagging feet through the hallways of Hogwart's. They didn't cast any spells. Not yet.

"Now what, genius?" Blaise was now slightly panting.

"Well, for a start, how are you still able to speak after all this running? And after that-" Tracey had no after that. She was by now just blindly running. She didn't even know why she had thrown that blasted apple, for Merlin's sake. Maybe at least there was hope that Draco and Millicent got away with what they were doing...

Noticing that Tracey was not in her most useful state, Blaise took over and pulling on all the strength he had, speed up so they could get out of the Carrows' view. Just for a few seconds. If there just was a door...Anywhere in the dungeons. Something to disappear behind...

Finally they were about ten feet away. He saw a door and ripped it open with force.

* * *

The Carrows came running after them and seeing the slightly ajar door, Amycus grinned viciously. "Now we have those bastards! Oh they'll have some explaining to do!"

The two death eaters looked absolutely vicious as they pulled the door open and entered.

What was a bit less expected was it flying shut behind them with a loud thud followed quickly by an odd squelching noise and as Alecto tried the handle, she realized the door had locked itself behind them. Before either could draw their wands and yell the counter curse and open the door, two sets of feet slapping against the dungeon floor disappeared into the distance.


	7. Meeting the Headmaster

Chapter 6: Meeting the Headmaster

Tracey could have admitted that this time they had gone too far. Too obvious. She could have indeed accepted fault for this whole situation as she stood in front of the headmaster's desk and quietly waited for him to finally look up from the pile of paperwork and deal with her. What she could not accept was that she was suppose to feel sorry or regret it. Even if it did end with a Carrow in the hospital ward.

* * *

It had started quite simply. Well, as simply as it could have really. The veritaserum switch had gone without a hint of trouble. As far as the Slytherins knew, the Carrows were none the wiser. In the meanwhile they'd been laying low just in case. Tracey had made arrangements with Blaise to sneak in some pain relief potion and Millicent had convinced a few house-elves to sneak it into the food for the students who seemed to need it the most. Draco on the other hand tried to find information from his relatives. But they had not planned on doing anything major for at least a few weeks.

That is until the beginning of December when the trio of Dumblerites had apparently finished their detentions with Hagrid and went right back to their own ways. Messages of „Dumbledore's Army is recruiting again" appeared all over the school, they stood up to Carrows in classes...Tracey had already began to wonder if it was a mistake on their part to give aide. After all, making the punishments even slightly easier, encouraged them so greatly...But then knowing the poor idiots, they would hardly be discouraged by anything other than death itself. And the potions did merely remove pain from actual injuries not from hexes and curses. If only there was something to also get rid of the lingering pain of a crucio...

This was however quite troublesome for the Slytherin mutineers. They'd planned on doing something before the Christmas break but not yet. Unfortunately though as it were, life didn't go quite their way as they found out the first week of December on a beautiful snowy evening.

On that fine day, quite a few of the students had managed to irritate Alecto Carrow greatly, after she started a monologue on what she thought was the muggle Christmas ritual. It apparently had a lot to do with sacrificing humans and inviting demons to feast on them. So on and so on. Nothing really knew. The muggles were dangerous barbarians.

Tracey had mostly tuned it all out. Only to be brought out of her thoughts by a shriek of "DETENTION!" Normally she wouldn't have given it a second thought but it appeared that Alecto was far too happy for a woman who was just antagonized by insolent brats. She turned to smile sweetly at the Slytherins. "I'm sure your classmates will enjoy the chance to practice their spells on you in detention." By the looks of it, Nott and Parkinson and Crabbe were actually quite happy at the sound. And now...Tracey had the nagging feeling she would get to try out the crucio curse. Oh happy days.

That in itself would not have been much. Maybe Tracey would have done something like slip some mild nausea potion into the food of the offenders. Madame Pomfrey would keep them in the hospital wing for at least a bit and then with any luck the Carrows would have forgotten all about that. The Dumbledore's Army had other ideas. They had decided to teach both the Sltherins in question and the Carrows a lesson.

* * *

And yes, just in case anyone was wondering, here comes the part that miss Davis should have regretted as she stared at the fire and waited for judgement to be passed. Finally headmaster Snape placed his quill down and looked up at the young Slytherin.

"So, miss Davis, care to explain why you blew up both deputy headmasters?"

Tracey bit her lip and tried to look appropriately meek. "I did not...blow them up, sir!"

Snape raised one eyebrow and straightened up in the chair. „Really? Because I have two Carrows in the hospital wing and a report from madame Pomfrey that indicates their injuries are consistent with...getting blown up. Are you suggesting she is incorrect?" His voice was silky soft and Tracey wished desperately she was somewhere else. Anywhere else. Well, not anywhere. A snake pit or a lion den would-

"Miss Davis! I expect you to look at me while I am talking to you." The headmaster's glare had intensified to a whole new level. One reserved only for the Slytherins who messed up so badly he was forced to publicly remove points from his own house.

Tracey straightened and looked up at the man, hoping he wasn't going to try and look into her thoughts. "Well, yes. They did get a bit blown up. But that was hardly my doing or fault. Sir." She took a deep breath, her mind racing quickly, trying to stay one step ahead and her story as convincing as possible.

"Oh? Do tell! And try to be truthful, miss Davis!"

* * *

The Dumbledore's Army. So far it had not been that difficult to stay one step ahead of them. They were...dully predictable and if that failed, apparently Blaise Zabini had a lot of sources. It was perhaps a little less surprising than first thought but he'd managed to charm quite a few Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Even one or two slightly less obnoxious Gryffindors. And yet this time they were caught rather off guard.

Which is to stay they nearly walked right into a rather nasty surprise left by said army. Apparently the army had been irked enough to try and incapacitate their would be Slytherin tormentors by booby-trapping the way into the Slytherin common room.

Draco examined the various hexes and curses that would strike anyone going in or out with a healthy amount of new-found respect. "This is new. I don't think they went for us before..."

"I tried talking about it with Padme...nearly got punched in the face AND hexed." Blaise sounded like his feelings had been hurt. Well, his pride at least. "I can only surmise that they got tired of Nott and Parkinson and the rest prancing around acting like mini death-eaters!"

"Yeah, well why do they have to come after the rest of us, respectable people?" replied Draco grimly.

"Says the guy who's daddy-" Blaise didn't get to finish that sentence because quite smartly Millicent clamped a hand over his mouth. They did not need a fight right then.

Tracey took a deep breath. "I think it is irrelevant why they put this here. What we need is to figure out, what we should do now."

"I wote we fake an emergency in the common room and call the Carrows in to help!" stated Millicent.

"Hoping that they run right in the door?" The thought had merit. It was admittedly a much eviler than Tracey had though Millicent capable. But she liked it. "The Gryffindors will take the blame. Their magical sigantures are all over the damn door. And I don't feel like becoming an accessory to murder." Well, maybe to the Carrows' murder...

"Could we...move the trap so it isn't seen as a revenge on us? Somewhere else?"

Draco leaned as close as he could with out triggering any of the hexes. "Well, they do seem mostly connected to the door itself...in theory we COULD switch out the door with some...other door." He shrugged. "Either that or we will blow this thing up in our faces and get a few nice days to lie on our backs and curse the Gryffs."

"And where would we move the hexed and disguised door of the Slytherin common room?"

* * *

Well, as it turned out they had moved the Slytherin common room door very carefully to a different dungeon room. The one where the Carrows were planning on having their detention. Which was quite a feat, considering the Slytherin common room door was basically a stone wall that would part at the password. Nevertheless they succeeded.

The theory was that the Carrows would try and get in and bare the better part of the army's revenge.

"But you see, I didn't know that the spells would act together in such a manner." Tracey tried to convey the most earnest look she could handle. "I just thought that maybe a few Gryffindors would stumble into their own trap." They had had the good sense to at least very carefully create an illusion of a door over the open brick wall. But it was still a feeble excuse. At least for a man like Snape...

"So you thought the Gryffindors going into detention would get caught in their own spell?" And totally didn't know that the Carrows would be first through the door and after that NO ONE would be going in? The other part was painfully clear in the air.

Which was what would have happened and the Slytherins could have ran back into the now doorless common room and pretend that they were trying really hard to figure out WHERE THEIR DAMN DOOR WAS. But life is full of little disappointments.

* * *

It had gone fairly smoothly at first. The door was in place and the Carrows were fast approaching to prepare everything for the detention. The mutineers were nearby to make sure it went smoothly. And admittedly enjoy the show. When an unexpected guest star approached in the form of one Horace Slughorn.

Professor Slughorn stopped the Carrows as they walked in order to put a few questions in front of them. He had issues with his Slytherins being asked to do the duty of a disciplinarian. And since the Carrows were so busy, they decided to talk while they walked into the classroom.

While true that the outlook of Slytherins on life was rather...gray, then there were still a few rules generally respected. A few Gryffindors walking into their own trap was perhaps unfortunate but an important lesson about trying to prank a Slytherin. The head of one's own house was by far a different matter. One simply could not allow harm come to the one teacher who's job was to fight for one's own house.

"We can't let him walk in there!" hissed Draco.

"Well, go and stop him then!" replied Blaise coolly, half hoping the boy would try.

Millicent didn't listen to either of them. She slipped out of the hiding place quietly and headed determinedly toward her head of house. "Professor Slughorn!" It was enough to get Slughorn to stop and turn while the uglier of the Carrows reached for the doorknob. As her fingers touched the bricks something truely wondrous happened.

"PROTEGO!" A shield blocked Slughorn and Millicent from the magic but unfortunately it also triggered some sort of a secondary mechanism in the hexes. The energy threw Alecto in the air and then across the hallway. Rest of the corridor was filled with smoke and for a moment Tracey could only hear her ears ringing before the door also sent a hex back her way. It slapped her in the face and threw her against the wall.

* * *

"So you see, I only cast a protego. I didn't know it would...it would have a bad reaction." She had truly not known. She had suspected it. But they hadn't had the chance to check or care to check anyway.

"Yes. You only cast a a protego and now you are standing here telling me you had no idea that it would cause HALF OF THE DUNGEONS to blow up." This time he didn't bother mentioning the Carrows. It was bad enough Filch would now go around angry at the whole world because someone made his life a thousand times harder.

Tracey looked down again and resisted the urge to pull at her hair as she tended to, when nervous. Snape glared at her a bit more before stepping out from behind the table and walking over to a small cupboard in the back. Tracey couldn't actually see what he was doing but she didn't dare take a peek.

Finally Snape walked back over to her and handed her a small vial. "Drink this, miss Davis!" The girl poured it down without question and after a few seconds the pain of being flung into a wall started to disappear. „Thank you."

As she handed the vial back, the headmaster grabbed her chin forcing her to look into his deep black eyes. "Listen carefully, miss Davis. I don't really care if you want to fight against the Carrows." In fact it did cause him some grim amusement. "But I need you to understand that you are not to get caught again. The Carrows are dumb enough and incapacitated enough to believe that you only tried to protect Millicent from some unknown danger in the air. They are in no position to question me. But the next time you get caught..." The threat hung in the air between them.

He let go off Tracey and the girl nodded. "I understand, sir."

Snape nodded. "Good." He walked back behind his table and sat down, now completely ignoring the girl in front of her. Tracey saw it as a dismissal and promptly headed for the door. Or at least tried.

"Oh, and miss Davis? There is a potion that one can brew for crucio relief."

"I don't suppose that the recipe of said potion is available for the students to find? Any teacher one could get it from? For purely...academic purposes."

"That would be very irregular. To give a student the means to possibly escape a deserved punishment." Snape didn't look at her but there was a paper on the edge of his desk.

"And if one was ever caught with such a potion?" Tracey asked as she carefully walked back up to the table and with utmost care took the paper, slipping it under her robes.

"The punishment would be swift and severe. IF they were caught. Good night, miss Davis."


	8. Planning for the Future

Chapter 7 "Planning for the Future"

"We are not using polyjuice potion to impersonate one of the Carrows!" stated Tracey crossing her hands over her chest and trying to look as imposing as possible.

Malfoy shrugged. "Why not?"

"Why? You really have to ask?" she very nearly didn't even have a response to that. "Because it will backfire, that's why."

"You aren't scared, are you, Davis?"

Tracey almost snarled at him. Being called a coward was perhaps her one weak spot. She might have even ended up at Gryffindor because of it. Not because she was oh so brave but her biggest fear used to be thought a coward...Well, the hat had made the smart choice in the end. She could not even imagine being in the red and gold house.

"And anyway, where would we get polyjuice potion?" Blaise chimed in from behind the book he was seemingly reading.

To Draco's surprise it was Millicent who answered:"He stole some from the potions cupboard when we were dealing with the veritaserum."

Tracey stopped pacing to glare at the boy. "Excuse me? You TOOK something from the potions cupboard? What if the Carrows notice?"

"Oh please, the Carrows have no idea what is and what is not supposed to be in that cupboard. And as for old Sluggy? He'll just think that he misplaced it or something." Professor Slughorn might have been their head of house and they respected him for it but they held no illusion about what qualities he did and did not have. It was quite easy to manipulate him regarding certain issues. Even going so far as to convince him that they had turned their assignments in, as long as you didn't do it too often.

"Right. So we have the potion. But this about so much more. We need their hair too."

"I might have...plucked a few strands while they were unconscious in the hospital wing," stated Draco, sounding more than a bit smug.

Tracey sighed heavily. She had the nagging feeling that Draco had been very well prepared for this talk. On the other hand though a big thing like this... "Go on then. Which one of them would we impersonate and to what end?"

"I was thinking of going with the woman. She seems to be the more vicious one and maybe she could be used to tame the brother," suggested Draco, "Just you know, take her place, cut back on the cruelty. Then in time take the brother out completely. I mean, Granger and her idiots should be getting close by now. They are bound to end back up in Hogwart's at some point. And if we already held the school...well, it would save everybody time and dumb effort."

It was a testament to Draco's worry when he mentioned giving aide to Granger. He'd gone back from Christmas vacation in a rather bad mood and ready to fight. In fact he had TRIED to fight Nott but right then Blaise had had the good sense to step in and break it up. Now he seemed to want more than ever to put a thorn into Voldy's side at every opportunity.

Still, to impersonate a Carrow? That surely was a lapse in judgement...Except as Tracey dwelt on the thought she started to warm up to it. After all, in their fourth year a death eater had managed to impersonate a professor. How fitting would it be to now turn it around on them? As for doing more...a lot of students hadn't even shown up again after the Christmas vacation. Hogwart's was no longer safe even with the combined efforts of the Army and them.

"If we are doing this, and I mean IF...then we are going to need to plan it very carefully and then we are going to have to get more allies. For once we don't want the real Alecto to show up at the wrong time. Someone needs to be able to keep an eye on her."

For a moment there was silence while the four considered their options. "I'll talk to Gregory," volunteered Draco, "He doesn't really care for Nott or Parkinson or the death eaters." Contrary to popular belief, somewhere deep inside Gregory Goyle was a rather gentle soul, the brutish behavior having developed from him being bullied a lot for being a bit slow. He hadn't however grown up with many pure-blood notions, due to his death eater father not having been in the picture.

"And Zacharias Smith. He is not in the Dumbledore's Army anymore, I think. He is kind of a bastard though!" stated Millicent.

"Being a bastard isn't necessarily a bad thing in war." Blaise put his book down. "So, we are really doing this? Because if we are, I might be able to convince Sue Ling...and possibly Lisa Turpin too."

"Figures that you would go for the Ravenclaw girls..." muttered Draco under his breath. Blaise chose to ignore it. "As I was saying, I can talk to them. Anyway, we will NEED girls to impersonate Alecto Carrow. Or if Alecto is only present when either Mills or Trace is gone, even Filch will get suspicious. Not to mention that I AM discreet about my relationships. They won't come to think that a couple of Slytherin snakes have made a deal with Ravenclaws."

Tracey shrugged, giving in. "If you are all on board with this plan, then I guess we are doing this. After all, Voldy would probably already be in the mood to kill us for what we've done so far. In which case why not go down like a damn legend, trying something unbelievable?"

* * *

Over the next few days the Slytherins were busy making preparations. As Draco had predicted, getting Gregory Goyle on their side had not been a problem. In fact he seemed rather happy to accept, making Tracey wonder for a brief second if he had had an idea he might be asked to do something like this. Next Draco and Tracey went hunting for a room where to keep an Alecto and Millicent went with Blaise to do some recruiting.

The room of requirements would have been the obvious choice of course but as it turned out, the Dumbledore's Army had already made rather good use of it, as the snakes had to admit with grudging respect. Luckily though there was an unused potions classroom in the dungeons. Once upon a time Snape had thought remedial potions there, whenever he was in a not so broody mood, but after Sluggy took over, it had not been touched again.

The room wasn't very big but they did discover a few more brewing stations to use for the crucio relief potion and others. Over the next few days, Draco and Tracey used spells to fortify a room and then Draco got one of his house-elves to retrieve an old suitcase not unlike the one Moody had been kept in, from his family home. It held a rather good extension charm and yet was in itself quite small. It also had a complex lock on it so no-one else could pry the lid off without the code.

Tracey also studied and made detailed notes about Alecto Carrow's mannerisms and interactions. She'd even borrowed Draco's invisibility cloak to sneak into the woman's quarters. At least she didn't share them with her brother. This was going to make it at least a little bit easier.

* * *

Millicent and Blaise meanwhile were trying their luck with the three remaining prospects. These days it wasn't easy for two Slytherins to get a Hufflepuff alone and since talking to Zacharias while others were present, was not an option, which led to some light stalking on behalf of the snakes until finally they caught him on the way to the library.

Millicent approached the boy first. "Hey, Zach, I need a word with you."

The boy looked up and instinctively took a step back as he saw Blaise. "Oh yeah? What about, Mills?"

"We aren't here to hurt you but we don't have time to be messing around. I have an offer to make and I need you to hear me out. Please!"

"Talk fast, Mills. And only for old times sake." Blaise made a mental note to ask about what old times they were talking about. Now was however not the right moment for such a conversation for Zach was clutching a wand now, while Millicent tried to suppress the urge to pull out hers.

She took a deep breath. "Alright. How would you feel about the chance to take down a Carrow?" Millicent figured it was better to get straight to the point and not try to dance around it.

Zach examined them warily. "Go on, Mills."

"Well, I was just wondering, the Dumbledore's Army is being rather active, so when will you finally get off your ass and start doing something about the Carrows?"

Zacharias grinned humorlessly. "And I suppose you've been doing oh so much about that?"

Millicent grinned at him. Zach examined her carefully. "Alright. So, I guess you've been holding out on me, Mills. Why should I trust you? Or the slightly-less-obnoxious-Draco-Malfoy over there?" he indicated with his head to Blaise.

„You left out more handsome," remarked Blaise, „And since we are the ones currently putting our necks out, I think it is more of a question of why should WE trust YOU."

Zacharias shook his head. „Think what you like, but I need proof."

* * *

About 20 minutes later Millicent and Blaise were breaking a younger Hufflepuff out of detention. "Just so we're clear, you don't think your Ravenclaw girlfriends would like us to break out a few of theirs as well? As long as we are here?" hissed Millicent as she ushered the boy out and through the hallway's blind-spots.

"I'm quite sure that they won't be asking for anything so sentimental. They like cold hard logic. And don't worry, I will do the talking then." Blaise followed them quickly.

"WHAT are you doing?" screeched the voice of one clearly unmistakable woman. Blaise inhaled sharply. "RUN!" he practically pushed the boy into Millicent's arms and the girl ran as fast as she could, pushing the boy in front of her. She didn't have time to think about checking if Blaise was after them. Or where they were running. They couldn't go into Slytherin common room and the Hufflepuff one was too far away.

There was no time to think, Millicent grabbed the Hufflepuff boy and pushed him through the nearest door she could see. Blaise stumbled in right after and yanked the door shut behind them. For the next few seconds they leaned against the door, hearts beating in their ears and trying to calm their breathing. The Hufflepuff was now clutching Millicent's hand. He couldn't have been older than maybe a second year...

The steps dashed past the door and Blaise finally exhaled. Tracey hadn't even realized the boy had been holding his breath. "I think they are gone now." He turned around and closed his eyes, his head resting on the door. "Remind me again why we didn't bring Malfoy's inv-„

Millicent coughed. It was a kind of a very pronounced cough that sort of echoed in the room and tried hard to tell Blaise something. He opened his eyes and stifled a groan. The three were looking straight into the eyes of one professor McGonagall. For a few seconds they just stared at each other. Then Millicent glanced at Blaise and the boy nodded ever so slightly.

He took one last deep breath, flashed a smile at the professor, opened the door and the three slipped back into the corridors. McGonagall didn't make one move to stop them and thus they headed very quietly back to the Hufflepuff common room to drop off their new friend. For somehow this did feel like the beginning of a beautiful friendship. And of course the final confirmation that Zacharias needed. This part of the plan was ready.


	9. Complications

Chapter 8 "Complications"

After the Hufflepuff had been returned, it was only a matter of speaking with the Ravenclaw girls. Blaise took care of that quickly and as he predicted, the two girls were on board. Surprisingly, they stayed on board even after they heard the plan itself. They were in fact almost ready to take the next step. That is until an unexpected complication rose.

It happened on the Monday following Millicent's and Blaise's little detour into professor McGonagall's living quarters. the first class that the seventh year Slytherins had was transfiguration together with the seventh year Gryffindors. As the class ended, professor McGonagall approached the two Slytherins she had seen and asked them to step into her office for a moment.

Unsure of what to expect, the Millicent and Blaise obeyed quietly. McGonagall didn't start speaking until her office door was firmly shut. First she leveled a not very unfriendly glare at the two. Then she offered them a seat. "Miss Bulstrode, mister Zabini, I wanted to warn you that whatever transpired Friday night...professor Carrow saw one of you at her detention classroom as one of the students was broken out." A cold feeling settled in Millicent's stomach as the stern woman continued. "I'm afraid, mister Zabini, that they might be paying you a visit soon."

* * *

"We are screwed." stated Zabini as he paced around in the classroom that should have by now contained one unconscious Carrow. Unfortunately this issue needed to be resolved before any kidnappings, as the witch of a woman had already told other people as well. Thus Tracey had sent out a word for the Ravenclaws and Zacharias not to show up. Unexpected complications had risen that had to be dealt with first.

"Well, I'm screwed anyway. I understood from professor McGonagall that Millicent is safe."

"We won't let you just go down for that. We will figure out a solution." Stated Millicent matter-of-factly. "Righ, Trace?"

Tracey sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "What we need here...is an alibi. An alibi good enough that the Carrows can't ignore."

"Do you have any ideas about where we could get one?" Blaise shot back. "Obviously it cannot come from any of YOU. That would just draw a hell of a lot of unnecessary attention..."

"Your Ravenclaw girls?" offered Millicent.

Blaise shook his head and for the first time Tracey recognized rather serious worry on his face. "We need them for the polyjuice plan. Can't wrap them up in anything suspicious."

Tracey sighed and glanced at the clock. Lunch hour was nearly over. "I have a feeling they'll pull you out of a class. As soon as they do, use your ring to let us know. Then stall as best as you can. Make it look like you were up to something embarrassing."

"Oh and you'll do what?" Blaise sounded sarcastic as ever though there was a flash of hope in his eyes.

"Honestly? I don't know. We'll do our best not to let you down though. If all else fails, professor Snape-„

"Professor Snape has other things to worry about. The other students need him more." With that they left the classroom, hearts heavy and reluctantly heading for their destiny.

* * *

It went pretty much as Tracey had predicted. During the afternoon herbology class professor Slughorn himself came to call Blaise out of class, everything in his demeanor suggesting trouble. He did his best to hide it but this year if anyone had been asked to a meeting with the headmaster as well as his two deputies, they hardly ever got good news. The fact that this time it was a Slytherin to be called out, made it even worse. The class was with Ravenclaws and everyone was suddenly focusing on the boy.

Even professor Sprout who tried to keep the class calm, was clearly worried. She must not have heard what professor McGonagall knew. Finally she had no other choice but to dismiss the class early when the distracted students had more than one accident with the poisonous plant they were to be working on as well as with simple garden tools.

Of course mister Zabini didn't know any of that. Because right then he was escorted by professor Slughorn into the headmaster's office. Despite not really being a coward, Blaise could not stop his heart to beat rapidly against his chest. He took several deep breaths and put on his best mask of calm and confusion he could.

They were all there. Headmaster Snape, both Carrows, obviously Slughorn and in the back stood professor McGonagall. For a moment his heart actually stopped. What it McGonagall had told on them? But that would surely make no sense. She was probably just there to ensure the Carrows didn't do anything too dumb. Besides, he'd saved a little kid. That ought to count for something? Maybe make him worthy of the protection of the Gryffindor lion? Yes, he did still quite disdain most Gryffindors but when you are confronted by two angry and out of control death-eater deputies, you really want an angry lion at your side. Especially considering Slughorn didn't always fill the shoes of a sneaky snake.

For a few seconds there was complete silence in the room. All he could hear was the clock ticking. Slowly. Surely. Then headmaster Snape spoke:"Mister Zabini, where were you last Friday night around nine pm?"

Blaise inhaled sharply and wished really hard he could blush on cue. Alright, here's to hoping Tracey came through for him. Though he guessed it didn't matter. He wasn't going to volunteer the truth in any case.

"Mister Zabini, this is a serious matter. I would advise you to think hard about how you want to answer but not take too long." Snape's voice held a serious warning. He was apparently keeping the Carrows barley on a leash.

"I was..." Blaise bit his lip. "I was..." Damn, they should have at least agreed on a very basic story. "I was with someone." He settled for the vaguest thing he could say. An alibi had to involve another party, right?

"With who?"

"I cannot say, sir."

"Can't? Or won't?"

The female Carrow snapped her thick short fingers impatiently. "This is pointless. He is obviously lying. I saw him."

"Saw me where?" Blaise straightened up at glanced at the woman warily. "What are you talking about? What happened on Friday?"

Snape began to deflect the question but Alecto was already ahead of him. "What happened? You little bastard broke one of the students out of their well-deserved detention, that's what happened. You showed complete disregard to our authority. And to think that Zabini was once a good pure-blood family. Of course the family name has not been the same since your mother began losing husbands...Who's to tell you are even a pure-blood. Maybe she spawned you with a-"

"We are getting off topic!" stated Snape louder than usual. Apparently he still remembered how badly Blaise tended to react towards insults at his mother. "Deputy headmistress has made an accusation. What have you to say for yourself? Did you break a student out of detention?"

Blaise swallowed his anger and unclenched his fist. "I did not break a student out of detention on Friday night."

"This is pointless. Obviously he'll say that. I bet he can't prove it though!" declared Amycus.

Snape suppressed a snare and seemed to fight the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. „Professor Carrow, please." Then he turned to Blaise. "Can you prove that you were somewhere else during the time of the event?"

"I...I said I was with someone." He shifted his weight from one leg to another. This was ridiculous. At this pace there would be no saviors coming.

"Yes you did. Who were you with?" Snape's voice had developed a very dangerous edge to it.

"I..." Blaise hoped like hell that he looked more uncomfortable to reveal a somewhat of a secret than simply guilty. "I promised not to say."

That's how it went on for a bit. Snape glared at the boy willing him to at least COME UP with an alibi while at the same time trying to pacify the Carrows. Very occasionally Slughorn tried to chime in. Professor McGonagall just stood, hands crossed on her chest.

Unfortunately Blaise was fast running out of tricks and clearly not ready to stick his own neck out for the boy. He had after all given Tracey a warning. And inevitably a time came when even he could not stall any longer.

Alecto Carrow grinned viciously as she realized that. "He is refusing to give an alibi and can't refute that I saw him," the woman declared loudly.

Snape gave Blaise one more almost apologetic glance. "I'm afraid then, that I have no other option but to believe my deputy headmaster. I trust you know what the punishment has been for blatantly disregarding the authority of a professor-„

"HEADMASTER!"

All heads looked up as professor Flitwick entered, Ginevra Weasley following him, with her head down.

"I'm sorry to interrupt but I found this girl trying to get into your office. She said she had something terribly important to tell you."

Blaise's head shot up and he tried to meet the girl's eyes. To his surprise when he did, the girl gave him an almost imperceptible nod.

Snape fixed the girl with one of his more intimidating glares while McGonagall straightened up too, concern now far more evident in her eyes. "Explain, miss Weasley."

"I..." stuttered the girl and swallowed. "I-„

"Miss Weasley, we do not have all day. Pull yourself together and tell me what was so important that you interrupted this meeting or I will make sure you'll have detention until the end of the school year." At this McGonagall shot Snape an angry glare but the headmaster didn't seem to notice or care.

Ginny looked up slowly. Her cheeks were red and blotchy as if she had been crying and her eyes puffy and swollen. "I heard you were accusing Blai- mister Zabini of breaking that boy out of detention." She gulped and exhaled, looking almost on the verge of tears again. Snape's stern glare intensified as if he could intimidate the girl out of crying.

"Sorry, sir." She took a few more deep breaths. "He couldn't have done it. He was- He was with me!"

At this Snape's eyes shifted to Blaise who at least had the good since to look down avoiding anyone's eyes. "And what, miss Weasley, were you doing with mister Zabini?"

The girl was now blushing rather fiercely but at least she had not started howling. "We were...We were..."

"Any day now."

"We were behind the tapestry on the fourth floor. I...I wanted to apologize to Gin- I mean miss Weasley for you know...the other day Tracey...I mean miss Davis." Zabini shook his head as he focused really hard on the shiny tip of his shoe. "Miss Davis shouldn't have been so crude about it. Back in October...I thought it over in the last few weeks. I didn't want miss Weasley to think I had spread stories about her."

Headmaster Snape's eyebrows rose as he glared down at the boy. "And you decided the best thing for miss Weasley's...reputation was to meet with her secretly behind a tapestry?"

"We didn't want anyone to find out," chimed in Ginny, "The Gryffs...they'd have taken it...not well...if Blaise showed up. And I didn't want to go near the Slytherin common room...But Blaise asked to talk so many times. Starting in November...I thought he deserved a chance to be heard. I swear we were just talking. I met him at around half past eight. So we'd still have time...before the curfew."

"I was a bit late. And we talked until a bit after nine." Replied Blaise, risking a glance towards Snape.

Headmaster Snape stared at the two in front of him. "Really? And you swear that you were both there during the incident." The two teenagers nodded. Alecto Carrow tried to say something but Snape raised his hand. "This isn't just you trying to save your friend?"

Blaise managed a snicker at that and Ginny blushed again.

"And if I were to give you Veritaserum?"

He couldn't know, could he? About the potions. Blaise's mind raced. Then again, there was probably next to nothing that Snape didn't know about his school. Or maybe he was just scaring them. Why waste the potion...

"We'd tell the truth, sir." It was probably the worst possible answer to give. And also not even a little bit a lie. Everyone told the truth under Veritaserum. That was the point.

"You can't just take their word for it, headmaster!" protested Amycus Carrow. "They are obviously in this together!"

"We are not, sir. I swear." Also true. They were definitely not in this together.

Snape turned to face the Carrows. "I highly doubt that. As professor McGonagall can attest, these two are not especially fond of each other. I can however believe that his upbringing would cause mister Zabini to wish to clear up any rumors about untoward affairs."

"And I can believe that miss Weasley's conscience would cause her to come clean about mister Zabini's whereabouts even thought they are both evidently uncomfortable discussing their little meeting." cut in professor McGonagall. „You on the other hand have only a vague figure that you saw in a dimly lit hall."

"I know what I saw-„ began Alecto.

"ENOUGH. I am satisfied with the answers mister Zabini and miss Weasley have provided." Snape's black eyes were now on the students again.

"Headma-„

"I said enough. Miss Weasley, twenty points from Gryffindor and you will report to professor McGonagall for two weeks of detention. I personally suggest it is spent on learning about acting like a proper lady. Mister Zabini, ten points from Slytherin. You should know better. In addition you will have two weeks of detention with professor Slughorn for stalling and wasting my time. And I'd like you to stay behind. The rest of you, could you please vacate my office?"

For once professor McGonagall didn't even think to react to the removal of points or Snape's blatant favoritism towards his own. She was too busy ushering miss Weasley out. The others followed, the Carrows more reluctantly than the others.

Blaise remained where he was, in front of the headmaster's desk and feeling quite like a naughty first year who got caught sneaky cookies into potions class. Even if that had only happened once...

"Mister Zabini." Headmaster Snape had actually stood up for that part and glid like a graceful bat out from behind the desk to stand in front of the boy. "Do you understand who the Carrows are?"

Blaise took a breath. "The deputy headmasters."

"And what else?" the man's eyes were cold and angry and Blaise forced himself not to look away. "They are death-eaters, sir."

"And knowing both of these things, you decided to DELIBERATELY antagonize them and get caught doing it."

Blaise didn't offer an explanation and it seemed Snape didn't expect one either. "You are a seventh year Slytherin. I would expect you to have enough sense to refrain from such acts of stupid bravery in the future. The situation is delicate enough without my own house adding fuel to the fire."

Blaise nodded, feeling like Snape expected an answer. "I'm sorry, sir."

"No, Sorry doesn't change a damn thing. I expect you to be smart. I also expect you to make very sure that miss Weasley does not unravel. You have dragged more than one person into this situation of yours. You are only lucky nobody saw you-" at that he leveled a stern glare at Blaise. "There were no other surprise witnesses, were there?"

Blaise didn't trust himself to answer. Even moving his head was suddenly a tiring task. Don't think of McGonagall. Nobody saw you.

Snape took a deep breath. "You got off by sheer dumb luck. I expect far better from you than relying on luck. Especially when there is so much at stake. I do not intend to risk the safety of everyone in this school merely because you didn't use that pea size brain of yours. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"

Blaise had truly never seen Snape this angry. Not once in his six and a half years. All he could do was nod.


	10. Almost Ready

Chapter 9 "Almost Ready..."

Right after professor Sprout had let the students go, Tracey had rushed out of the greenhouse and towards the one place she knew she had to go. The sixth year Gryffindors Care of Magical Creatures class ran by Hagrid. There really was no other option. Gryffindors had been the one single house not included in any of their plans. And while the idea that had struck her was completely crazy, it was the only one she had. She'd quickly motioned for Millicent and Draco not to follow. It would be tricky enough with out and overtly antagonizing entourage.

Tracey saw her target near Hagrid's house, tending to...well, Tracey didn't really care to find out. She walked up but well out of striking distance, recalling the last few encounters with the red-haired girl.

"Miss Weasley, I would like a word with you." She tried to keep her voice a rather bored and uninterested one, but had a feeling it would not fool anyone there. Nevertheless Ginny stood to face her.

"Yes, miss Davis?" her tone bordered on a sneer Snape would have been proud of. She did however take a few steps towards her so she could talk without anyone else overhearing.

"Blaise Zabini was taken out of our Herbology class a few minutes ago. He is suspected of breaking a Hufflepuff out of detention." Tracey examined her well manicured fingernails.

Ginny snorted as if that was the most riddicoulous thing she had ever heard. "And?"

"And he needs an alibi. A good alibi at that so he doesn't get flayed alive by professor Carrow." She glanced at Ginny, "I thought perhaps you'd like to be his alibi."

Ginny looked quite shocked at that. Shocked enough not to give any other displays of contempt. "Me? And why would I like to do that in your opinion?"

Tracey smiled humorlessly. "Out of the goodness of your heart?" Ginny raised one eyebrow and Tracey sighed. "But it would seem there are very few good people left in this world..." She fished in her pockets and pulled out a vial. They'd spent a bit of time before the whole Polyjuice thing brewing the potion but hadn't had the chance to try it out.

"Because this is a rather interesting potion that will take away the pain of a crucio curse. Before you ask, I have more than one vial."

Something lit up in Ginny's eyes. Sure, it was a suspicious light but still. "How do I know that it does what you say?"

"Well, I could cast a crucio on you and then demonstrated?" offered Tracey halfheartedly. It seemed the idea didn't appeal to Ginny much though.

"I would tell you to take it back and test it whatever way you wish, but we hardly have time for this. The offer is very limited time-wise." She twirled the vial between her fingers.

Ginny hesitated. "Why would you want me to give him an alibi?"

"I thought we already established that? It is not what I want. It is what you want. Out of the goodness of your heart."

* * *

"So you would not have given them the crucio relief potion if she had said no?" asked Blaise, laying his head on the couch. Tracey shrugged. "I might have. But they didn't need to know that. Either way, Ginny took the fall and while the Gryffs are a bit pissed off at the moment at the both of you, you should be free. Enjoy your time with Sluggy."

Blaise nodded. "And much appreciated that is too. How much does she know?"  
"Well, Zach says that she tried to ask questions about the Hufflepuff boy. Luckily no one really remembers the boy's name and Zach had a nice long talk with the boy about the virtues of being discreet so Ginny can't confirm whether or not you actually did do what they say."

"I did make an effort of making it look like you were up to something else not that legal, while of lesser noble quality," Tracey fished a chocolate out of her robe pocket and popped it in her mouth. "Either way, I think the sooner we move ahead with our plan, the better."

"Right, the Ravenclaws are ready. I think it is best if, Trace, you start. But we can go over it once everything else is in place. By the way, we still need to figure out what we can do." Draco sat up on the couch. "I think it is best we do that Friday evening. Then we have a weekend of getting use to it and after that we can use it full time. I mean, it is not like we can stop in the middle and let Alecto out of the trunk. No matter how good our obliviate is."

"So no going back then. Good. I never was much of a fan of backing out of suicide pacts." muttered Blaise under his breath. Tracey gave him a look and patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry, your first job will be staying well and good away from everything that has to do with this plan. If that darling Gryff has even half a brain under that bunch of flaming hair on her head, she will keep a very close eye on you and me possibly as well for at least some time. So you will act as perfectly- well, not perfectly but as Blaiselike as you are capable of."

"And as for what we shall do? Well, first we'll get Alecto out of the picture, then try to soften Amycus. We can try and calm him down. Then we can lesser the...ring of oppression here. And keep this school as safe as it can be." stated Draco determinedly.

"So in other words, you don't have a plan?" Tracey pinched Blaise. "That's enough for a start. We shall escalate as we see fit."

* * *

Ginny Weasley did indeed keep a very close eye on Blaise, who in turn tried to be his very usual unoriginal self. Luckily though they were busy with detentions. Old Sluggy had not been that bad with the whole thing. Blaise, being moderately good at potions, had been given the task of brewing some much needed stuff for the hospital wing. It was perhaps a bit tedious but not a horrible way to spend evenings. He didn't know what Ginny was up to but knowing McGonagall and knowing that McGonagall knew about that night, it could not be anything too horrible. And while one had detention with McGonagall then they could not possibly get detention from the Carrows. It was a fun little change, especially considering that the Carrows were on a warpath. Alecto was still convinced that she had seen Blaise and that put them both directly in her sights.

Other Gryffindors were of course also a bit angry at the whole thing and tried to hex Blaise quite a few times but that was nothing too new and he'd always been excellent at shield charms. Not to mention that Ginny seemed to actually be able to convince most of them to bugger off. Hopefully without mentioning their little arrangement. And the final upside was that the crucio shakes at breakfast table had all but disappeared. It was nice to eat without having to hear the clanging of glasses and cutlery in the hands of those unable to wield them.

And finally it was Friday which meant that it was time to make dreams into reality.


	11. To Catch a Carrow

Chapter 9 "To Catch a Carrow"

It was finally Friday morning and Tracey was feeling rather nervous, like anyone would. After all now they'd be taking step from merely being an annoying thorn towards outright war. That's IF they got caught. An if Tracey chose not to dwell on. Voldy would…And even if Voldy didn't, Snape would just rip her into tiny little pieces and use them in some disgusting potion.

Draco and Millicent were already sitting at the breakfast table, the girl merely nibbling on a piece of toast while Draco tried bravely to force a coffee down his throat. Blaise had yet to show up.

"Hey, Trace. How did you sleep?" asked Draco conversationally.

Tracey sat down and chose a muffin from the tray. It was about the worst possible moment to look nervous or unhappy. Even now, when Hogwarts was no longer in any way a safe place, Friday nights were slightly better. At least then one could look forward to two blessed days of no classes.

"Pansy snores," replied Tracey noticing that the annoying girl was suddenly giving her tired face a curious glare. "Like sleeping next to a freight train."

The girl huffed indignantly and turned back to chatting with Daphne Greengrass. On any other day Tracey might have felt sorry for Daphne, who would clearly much rather have just spent her morning in peace, but at least Pansy wasn't glaring a hole in her skull. She smiled instead at Draco. "I'm hoping my…evening…will be more eventful."

Draco emptied the coffee cup. "Yeah, good luck with that." His dark eyes fell on Alecto Carrow at the staff table. The woman was reading the Daily Prophet. "We should get to potions. Wouldn't want to be late for old Sluggy."

* * *

The day didn't get much better. Tracey barley managed to focus and nearly blew up her potion, only managing to stop it when Millicent grabbed her hand as she tried to add a wrong ingredient the fourth time.

"Get it together. You are making everyone else nervous too." The girl smiled at her. "We'll be fine."

Tracey took a deep breath. "I will feel better once it is done."

"Sure about that? Because I think that is when the hard part begins!"

They exchanged a glance and Millicent began stirring the potion and Tracey diced up some pumpkin. "Last chance of backing out." she remarked.

"You know I wouldn't do that, Trace."

* * *

They were doing it in the evening after Carrow had finished with her detentions. As the previous Friday had shown, Alect Carrow would be dealing with those until about eight. Then she'd retire to her own quarters. Draco and Zach were waiting outside of those quarters under Malfoy's cloak of invisibility. Surprisingly they didn't even bicker. The silent was in fact deafening between them.

Well, that was not entirely true. They had had one short conversation about what would happen if Alecto Carrow accidentally tripped on the invisibility cloak. Zach had suggested that then Draco would have to survive the blow to his reputation and admit they were kissing. Damn the stupid Huff. But at least he was a pure-blood…

Tracey had promised to get the rest of the girls and then set up everything in the unused potions class. Millicent would be keeping an eye on the brother. And of course poor Blaise would be missing all the fun…That thought made Draco almost snicker. They might have been on the same side but there was no harm surely in a bit of gloating?

* * *

It was in fact Blaise Zabini's final day of detention which he just happened to spending together with Ginny Weasley. Horace Slughorn had had something to do which meant he was now under the watchful eye of the transfigurations professor. It could have been worse he guessed. They were in the process of practicing some spells useful in transfiguring stuff into medical equipment. A thing professor McGonagall insisted was an appropriate punishment at this time. Subtle. For a Gryffindor at least.

Nevertheless Blaise did his best. Who knows when this stuff would be used on him…and then professor McGongall was summoned by the headmaster. She gave the two young criminals a stern look and an order to keep working while she was gone. At first Blaise kept his nose down, trying not to look at the Gryffindor girl. But after McGonagall's steps had faded in the hallways, the redhead looked up at him.

"So, what's the game, Zabini?"

Blaise shrugged. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Weasel."

"I mean what were you up to last Friday?"

"Why snogging you behind a tapestry of course. Do you not remember? I would have thought I was rather more memorable than that…" replied Blaise as he kept his eyes on a piece of cloth that was very reluctant to become a set of bandages.

Ginny growled. "You are up to something."

Blaise resisted the urge to smirk at that. Oh yes, if all was going well then…He wondered if there would ever be songs sang about it. The heroics of the Slytherins. He'd like that. If there was an ode about him.

* * *

Of course what was unlikely to be featured in any odes was the part where Zach and Draco were starting to feel the chill of the old castle halls as Alecto Carrow failed to show up.

"Today of all days that bitch is late…" whispered Zach under his breath. Draco gave him a glare and he rolled his eyes. "What? I've seen enough badgers get hurt."

"Didn't peg a Huff for wanting revenge."

Zach rolled his eyes again and almost laughed at that. "Well, we are all about loyalty, aren't we? You hurt one of us and the rest of us will feel the obligation to come down on your head like a ton of bricks."

"Learn something new every day-" At that moment they heard footsteps in the distance and both boys became very still again.

Alecto Carrow strolled around the corner and straight to the door that led to her quarters. She whispered the password and slipped in. Her brother was nowhere to be seen and Millicent had not raised the alarm.

In one amazing dash both boys headed forward through the door before it clicked shut. Draco had his wand out and cast a silent stupefy on instinct. The body fell with a soft thump on the floor and Draco looked back to see Zach still pushing off the invisibility cloak.

"No hurry, Smith. I have everything under control."

"Yeah, yeah very funny-" the boy's eyes fell on Alecto Carrow on the floor. "Awh, Malfoy, why the hell did you do that for?"

"So she would not put up a resistance, why else?" Draco frowned, not sure what Zach was getting at.

Zach sighed:"Yeah, but now we have to carry her…"

* * *

"Look, lay off, Weasel. We've already established I was with you. I suggest we leave it at that." Blaise was starting to get rather bored of the girl and it was showing in his spell work. Damn, he had to work on staying unemotional.

"Alright, and what would I get if I had my friends follow your little pit of snakes?" pressed the redhead. Where the hell was professor McGonagall when you need her? Did no one in this castle even give a damn about the students anymore?

Realistically of course Blaise knew that this was in no way an emergency. But he found it especially hard to keep his emotions in check and he really didn't need a damn weasel to annoy him even more.

"Cursed. You'd get cursed. Happy?" He noticed the final bandage had turned out more an old ugly rag. "Look, Weasel, in case you haven't noticed, we are living in a very fragile time where secrets, even tiny little ones, can fuck everything up. So how about you keep your mouth firmly shut and maybe just maybe there will be more pain relief potions for you in the future." He had to warn Tracey and the crew later because the bloody rodent seemed to have no intention of just letting this go...

* * *

The interesting thing about spells is that sometimes they work perfectly well when the caster in concentrating. If however the concentration of the caster is broken abruptly, they might end equally quickly and leave one in a rather awkward position.

One of these spells was for example _mobilicorpus_ which Draco and Zach were currently using to move the trunk that contained the unconscious body of Alecto Carrow around Hogwarts. Of course if our little friends from Slytherin had followed their nature and become friends with the brightest witch of their age so it might possibly benefit them, then they'd have maybe been privy to a rather nice charm to use on a bag and make it fit one Carrow while looking like a small stylish purse.

As it stood though, they were not friends with the girl due to the unfortunate circumstances of her birth on Draco's part and due to him being a git on Zach's part. So now instead they were levitating a trunk covered with Draco's cloak of invisibility in front of them and it was only thanks to their luck that Draco already had another trunk that had been spelled this way for the purposes of keeping the woman.

"I told you not to stun her there." stated Zach yet again as he made his way down yet another set of stairs.

"Oh I'm sorry, you had a better idea you didn't share with the class?" quipped Draco.

Zach shrugged as much as the trunk would allow. "Imperius? You are a death-"

"Shut up, Smith!" Draco felt a sudden surge of anger and turned to face the boy. Rather unfortunately though this meant he couldn't watch where he was going, resulting in him tumbling down the final stairs.

A good tumble is however just the right thing to make someone brake their concentration and as he fell at the bottom of the stairs, so did the trunk in a soft thud. It also happened that the invisibility cloak was made of a rather silky fabric so it floated off the trunk elegantly and into a heap on the ground. All in all a most amazing set of coincidences...

Just then they heard footsteps from behind the corner. Quickly Draco scrambled to his feet and tried to grab the cloak but he couldn't get to it so instead he opted to try and look less guilty.

"Act natural," murmered Zach under his breath, "It'll be fine...". Draco figured this was as much mischief as the boy had ever been up to.

A moment passed and the rather regal figure of professor McGonagall appeared from around the corner. Seeing the two boys she came to a halt and eyed them with sudden suspicion. Then her eyes fell on the trunk at Draco's feet…

"Mister Malfoy, mister Smith, what are you doing here? What's in the trunk?" she demanded in a stern voice.

"Ehm…" Draco's mind raced as he found himself for the first time completely at a loss. "It is-"

"Alecto Carrow."

The woman's eyes snapped onto Zach who was looking back at her as calmly as he could from the top of the stairs, polite smile on his lips. For a few seconds they stared at each other. Then, to Draco's amazement professor McGonagall's glare lessened a bit and she relaxed.

"It is almost curfew, gentlemen." With that she swept past them and walked away. Draco could later have sworn he heard her murmur "Everyone thinks they're a comedian…" Still, it seemed that the thought of a Carrow squeezed into a small trunk put a small smile on the face of the stern woman.

* * *

"How could you possibly have known that would work?" asked Draco as they placed the trunk down in the potions classroom and Lisa locked the door behind them.

"What, the truth? She wasn't going to search the trunk for a Carrow and look like an idiot," replied Zacharias with a shrug.

"So you CAN BE sneaky?"

"Nah, just picked that up from a movie." *

They pulled the trunk open and looked down at the unconscious woman. "Damn, she looks ugly." Zach shook his head. "So who's the lucky lady who gets to go first?"

* * *

 _*The movie in question is a children's adaption of "The Three Musketeers" where the heroes are carrying the Duke of Buckingham around in a trunk in the palace. When stopped by a guard who demands to know what is in the trunk, d'Artagnan replies "The Duke of Buckingham" which causes the guard to walk off laughing._


	12. A Carrow Saturday Morning

Chapter 10 "A Carrow Saturday morning"

Tracey felt…not in her body. Which was technically correct. She wasn't in her body. But she had never actually experienced Polyjuice potion and she had never expected it to feel this…odd. Her feet were too short and her hands were too short. First step she tried to take she nearly fell over.

"Whoa, steady, Trace." Blaise offered her a hand and she took a breath. They were standing in Alecto Carrow's quarters and she'd just taken the Polyjuice potion to prepare for a wonderful day as the most loved professor in Hogwarts.

"I'm fine. I just have to get used to the differences." Tracey tried to walk again and this time it came out better. "I'm getting the hang of this.

She walked carefully over to the mirror and examined herself. "Well, I guess this is as good as it's going to get. I have to change my robes…"

With one swith motion Blaise transfigured her robes to fit Alecto Carrow. "There you go."

"Thanks…So what's next on the agenda?"

Lisa grabbed the day-planner they had created with all of Alecto's regular movements. "Breakfast. At the great hall."

"Right. The professor's table. This should be fun."

* * *

In theory being Alecto Carrow was rather easy. The reality was a bit different. As Tracey soon realized walking out from the professor's quarters. First there were the glares. Hateful ones. Not the ones Slytherins usually got but far worse. Then a Gryffindor tried to cast a curse. Luckily Tracey had mastered a quick quiet shield charm and she merely pretended that she had not noticed and by sheer luck dodged the spell.

As she approached the great hall, she noticed from the corner of her eye that Blaise and Lisa had followed at an appropriate distance from her and from each other. She took a deep breath before entering and then straightened herself to stroll confidently to the table.

Of course the glares from the students were nothing compared to the discreet looks of pure loathing on the faces of most of the professors, the heads of houses most notably. Even Slughorn didn't look all too friendly. Which in hindsight should not have been that big of a surprise. He had spent far too many hours making potions for madame Pomfrey and he'd never been a friend of the death eaters.

Tracey moved through the room as obliviously as possible and pulled up a chair next to the headmaster. She could have sworn Snape sneered very softly at her appearance.

"Headmaster!"

"Professor Carrow."

She nodded at Amycus Carrow. "Morning." At least the other professors were happy enough not to talk to her and she helped herself to a piece of toast and some scrambled eggs. It was a rather uncomfortable silence over the table which Tracey could deal with. She did however realize that the table gave a good view to all the house tables which proved far more interesting.

She found Blaise and Millicent chatting absently at the Slytherin table and Draco having to continue a rather uncomfortable conversation with Pansy. Interestingly Ginny Weasley was eying Blaise in a rather suspicious manner. Blaise had told of his encounter with the girl and Tracey had hoped that she would back off a little. But she guessed Gryffindors only ever backed away once they got hit in the face with a brick. Sometimes not even then.

At the Ravenclaw table Lisa Turpin was absently listening to Luna Lovegood while sneaking glances at her at the head table. Sue Li was a bit more discreet than that as she kept up a conversation with Marietta Edgecomb. Hm, the Edgecomb girl intrigued Tracey. She knew she'd betrayed the Dumbledore's Army a few years back but considering old Umbitch's methods it might not have been voluntary…She wondered if there was use for the girl. The way she winced, she'd been cruciod recently and had not gotten the potion Tracey had supplied Ginny with. A vengeful Gryff? Or merely an oversight. Perhaps she just didn't want to go asking for help…

The Hufflepuff table was quiet with merely Zach as their ally there, Tracey deemed it a bit less interesting. It also seemed to be the table of team minding our own business because no one tried to glare a hole into her or played with their wands to curse her. Alright, maybe she was going to get through that day after all.

Tracey finished her black coffee, a drink she abhorred with every fiber of her being but that Alecto Carrow could apparently drink herself to death from, and stood up to leave. No one paid her any notice and she slipped out carefully, ducking another stinging hex on her way out. Sooner or later, probably sooner, she'd have to allow one of those to hit her in order to keep up appearances…

According to the schedule Alecto Carrow's Saturday was free save from the meals at the great hall. She did however have a nice big pile of essays to grade. Maybe she could get her new Ravenclaw friends to help…not that the students would actually care about the grade…and then there were classes to prepare…Damn, it was hard being a professor…

"Alecto!" She was awoken from her thoughts by Amycus'es loud and obnoxious voice.

"Er yes pro- Brother?" No, she could not afford to let them catch her off-guard all the time.

"Why aren't you with the students?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Detention Saturday morning? You are supposed to be dealing with the insolent brats. Alecto, is everything okay?" Amycus looked mildly concerned which was rather unsettling.

Tracey nodded. Detention. Right. That she had to give. Fun times. "I'm okay. I just got lost in my thoughts. I'll just go and deal with the brats…" She turned to look where she was. The corridor on the second floor. And if she was Alecto Carrow, where would she be handing out her detentions…

"Yes. In your classroom. Try and get a grip sister!" concern had turned into grim amusement.

Tracey nodded. "Thanks."

* * *

It took Tracey far too little time to find the classroom in question. Not nearly enough to form a plan. She had thought about using the ring that she kept in her robe pocket to alert the Slytherins but she wasn't sure how much they could help anyway. Perhaps organize a distraction…the ring offered a far too limited list of responses. In the end before stepping through the doors she sent Draco a message of help needed and hoped the boy would have enough sense to show up. And then it was time to turn the handle of the door and walk in…

It wasn't so bad on the first glance. Eight students. Three what looked like second year Gryffindors, a fifth year Hufflepuff, a first year Hufflepuff, two fourth year Ravenclaws and of course the gentlemen Seamus Finnigan and Neville Longbottm. Tracey tried not to look at any of them and instead walked over to the table where her punishment book lay. She made a careful show of flipping it open and read through the entries.

The Gryffindor second years first. "Mister Creel, miss Day, mister Doyle? I see here you were disrespectful to professor Carrow and disrupted his class." She sent the little group as stern a glare as she could handle. Second year and the offences weren't that bad. Maybe she could… "Take out your quills. You'll be writing "I will respect the authority of my betters" 200 times each." The Gryffindors stared at her in disbelief. "Well, are you going to get to it or do you need some encouragement?" That set the students in motion and they grabbed for their schoolbags.

Alright, this was easy. Who was next. Ah, the Ravenclaw girls. Miss Elsa Turpin and mister George Belby. Failed to turn in an assignment. A muggle studies assignment. This was a more serious offence…She'd come back to that later…

The first year Hufflepuff, one mister Charles Lord. The same firstie that Millicent and Blaise already had broken out of detention. A half-blood but raised by the muggle part of the family…this would require for something more than lines. But her eyes fell down on the punishment book and found no entry...Oh right. That's something they did. Messed with the books. Tracey almost smirked at that. "Mister Lord, do you have an explanation for loitering here or do you just like Saturdays in detention?"

"Ehm…professor?"

"Was I unclear, mister Lord? There is no entry for you in this book therefore there is no need for you to be here and since you are here regardless am I to assume that you are here to cause trouble?" Tracey took a step out from behind the table and towards the poor boy. "Twenty points from Hufflepuff and I suggest that you get out of here or I will REALLY give you detention." She wondered idly if the hourglasses would recognize her as a professor and actually detract the points. Had they with Moody? He'd taken plenty of points from Slytherin…She shrugged the thought off and glared at Lord until he got out of the room.

It seemed so far the students were not really finding anything suspicious about her. Good. Maybe she seemed a bit loopy but then Alecto was loopy quite often.

Fifth from Hufflepuff, a petite looking girl with long black hair. Offence: sneaking around after curfew. Right, how would a professor handle this? "Miss Dahl, since you have apparently enough energy left to sneak about after curfew, I think it would be appropriate if you returned here tonight to help Filch clean up the hallways. There seems to be some…graffiti there." Saying that she sent a glare towards Longbottom and Finnigan who looked disgustingly venomous.

Alright, that was the easy ones done. Leaving the Ravenclaw idiots and the two Gryffindors. The crucio offences. Even if Tracey was willing to cast an unforgivable…which she guessed she wasn't, she couldn't be sure it would work. She could make them crucio each other. But then how would that be an improvement.

"Right, now miss Turpin, mister Belby, since you apparently can't do your homework during free time, then I guess you are going to have to do it here then. I expect it to be two extra parchments and I really hope your work will be enough…" She hoped the threat was self-evident…

When everybody else had either settled or gotten the hell out of the room, Tracey could not ignore the two elephants in the room. Or, she guessed, the lions. This was going to get bad somehow. They'd gotten caught painting "Dumbledore's Army Recruits Again" and while Amycus had apparently cruciod them on the spot, they now had detention too.

"Mister Longbottom, mister Finnigan." Curse Malfoy and his ideas. Curse them to the deepest pits in hell. "I see you are still disrespectful towards the school and the headmaster."

"Severus Snape is a murderer not a headmaster!" stated Finnigan.

Tracey had to admit what followed was not because of playing a Carrow. It was just an instinct to protect her head of house. Either way, she'd suddenly cast a stinging hex at the boy who in turn yelped in surprise. "Are you sure that disrespecting the headmaster is something you want to continue on doing?"

It was a stupid question. She knew it. Unfortunately it was also the kind of stupid question Alecto Carrow might ask.

"You don't belong in this school. You are a mean vicious bully!" declared Longbottom.

The second stinging hex also came on instinct. She really had to get a grip. Tracey slammed the book shut and strolled out from behind the table causing the rest of the students all exhale sharply. "Mister Longbottom, I don't recall asking you anything!"

"I don't need your permission to talk I-"

"ENOUGH! I WILL NOT BE DISRESPECTED IN MY OWN CLASSROOM!" Tracey took a breath. "Mister Longbottom, mister Finnigan, you will both sit down and…" She thought about it. She was making the whole thing up as she went anyway... "You will write me three parchments on what exactly a crucio curse does to a human being."

"I will not write a stupid essay-" began Finnigan.

"Oh will you not? Then I guess I can demonstrate on you to give mister Longbottom some inspiration." She was grasping her wand harshly. "Or I can demonstrate on you, mister Creel, unless you put your eyes back on that work."

Tracey almost sighed in relief as Finnigan finally pulled out his quill and ink. Well, this could have gone worse…

She settled behind the desk and started reading an essay that a Slytherin had turned in on muggle dietary habits. It wasn't half bad as an essay…probably something Alecto Carrow would like. She made a few corrections and reached for the textbook when she was caught off-guard.

"Constant vigilance" declared a pissed off little voice in her head as she felt a sharp pain in her eyes. Within an instant she had a wand in her hand but she found she could not see anything. She took a deep breath trying to come up with a counter spell…She fumbled a bit. It had to be the same one Victor Krum used on that bloody dragon…

She swished her wand and felt the pain ease a bit allowing her to open her eyes. The classroom was now empty. She stumbled out of the classroom and tried to get a glance at the fugitives. There was no sign of them. But she guessed she was ready to use the crucio on them now. Okay, maybe not crucio and maybe they HAD helped her deal with detentions but still.

One thing was certain - they were all way out of their depths here but there was no backing out now. They had to go through with it now and just hope no one got hurt too bad in the process. Damn Malfoy and his bloody plan. Tracey hoped the boy would step on a damn lego every morning from that day on.


	13. Best Loved Professor

**To Nutmeg Loves Books:** Thank you for all your kind words!

Chapter 11 "The Life of Hogwart's Best Loved Professor"

It was, Tracey reflected, rather amazing what happened when she transformed into Alecto Carrow. Not the physical part, though she supposed it was also a miracle that her pretty face could turn into that ugly mug. But in general she became…almost invisible. Well, partially invisible. When she stumbled past professor McGonagall, the area around her one eye swollen like some grotesque pink tennis ball, it was as if she wasn't even there. She swore she could have run into the woman and she still would have not acknowledged her presence.

Madame Pomfrey could not actually outright ignore her but she did seem to be very busy the moment Alecto needed some salve. So Tracey left the hospital wing, aware that her mere presence had caused terror to run through the minds of those present. This was the last thing she needed right now. Instead she walked back to Alecto Carrow's quarters. And nearly got hexed along the way. She almost retaliated too…it was a reflex. A Slytherin always retaliates. But this was a third year. And she was the most loved professor in Hogwart's….

Truth be told, Tracey had never actually been unpopular. Well, firstly because Slytherins tended to bond quickly against all other houses. There were rarely complete outcasts. Even if someone was a mudblood…well, on those rare occasions the saying went that "You might be a mudblood but you are our mudblood". Secondly, she was not an unpleasant person to spend time with. Which meant that she'd been quite unprepared for the onslaught of malice that sent her in the corridors.

Luckily enough once they'd taken over the dwellings of professor Carrow, Draco had done a few things to assure they were more private than before. So that, say, a group of haphazard students could not gain entry into them with force. And Blaise took one look at her eye before wordlessly producing a jar of healing salve. All in all they decided to count this a success, since at least after the short detention they had the whole weekend free to focus on more important issues. Such as the fast-approaching Monday.

Now, if our little mutineers had been even remotely lucky, they might have gotten a slow start to their week. Say, some unfortunate fristies. Easy to scare and unlikely to cause trouble. Unfortunately though, someone seemed to have it out for the conspirators, since instead they had the perfect storm first thing Monday morning – seventh year Gryffindors and seventh year Slytherins.

After much deliberation, which at times got rather heated, it was decided that the honour to appear before such a bunch would befall Millicent. Simply because Millicent was the most likely to face the Gryffindor idiocy and not start breathing fire. That and the Ravenclaw ladies had the pleasure of having to appear before Amycus Carrow in his class. And that was the one class you didn't want to be cutting, even if it involved curses of dubious morality.

* * *

Well, Millicent wasn't happy about it. Not one bit. But here she stood, waiting for the seventh years to gather, and anxiously waited for the ultimate test. They came in groups. That's the way everyone traveled now. Either you needed an alibi or you needed help if anyone decided to have some fun hexing you.

Still, at least the numbers of the Gryffindors were against them. Obviously the Golden Trio was missing. Dean Thomas had wisely not shown up for the year either. Which on the boys side left Seamus Finnigan and Neville Longbottom. On the girls side it was a bit better. Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown had both stayed. So had Elsa Selwyn, a pureblood and a member of the sacred twenty eight. The fifth girl their year had been one Annabeth Andrews. A muggle-born who, Millicent hoped dearly, had not shown up because she had had the good sense to flee during summer.

So, five brave lions. What awaits them in the snake pit? There had not been one muggle-born in their year when Millicent was sorted, which meant that all of them had stayed. There was Crabbe and Goyle, Nott and Draco and Blaise on the boys side and on the girls side Daphne, Pansy, Tracey. So it was all in all eight against five. Where at least three of the eight were jerks. Millicent hadn't made up her mind about Goyle. She didn't know if Draco had approached him either.

Millicent took a breath and saw Tracey send her an encouraging smile from the back where she could not be seen. She was setting next to Draco, trying to keep an eye on the room. Other than that the Gryffs and Slytherins were on separate sides either trying to ignore each other or sending ugly glares at each other. Well, at least no hexes were flying.

"Right, wands away ladies and gentlemen. Today we shall be speaking about muggle technology." It wasn't exactly the topic they would have wanted. But that was the thing they had to teach and last thing they needed was for Amycus to start using those two braincells he had.

"Who can tell me about the state of muggle technology?"

Pansy Parkinson raised her hand with an arrogant smile. "I've heard they still live in mud huts."

They've invented a thousand ways to use electricity to their benefit you ignorant slug. Millicent took a deep breath. That was of course not in the official textbook. She believed the official textbook said that the muggle world was stagnant and far behind the enlightened pure-blood society.

"Indeed, that is not far from the truth." It was surprisingly easy to lie. Perhaps because she was thinking about Alecto Carrow stuck in a trunk. "Their society is by far not as advanced as ours. One would think even without magic they would have developed but it seems instead they are happy being stagnant in brutish and low society." It wasn't even what Alecto's notes had indicated she had wanted to say. It was nowhere near as cruel. Still she could see Seamus Finnigan shuffle in his seat and give a glare.

Still, acting completely oblivious she went on to describe the basics of technology. Frankly it made her surprised that Alecto would even teach the muggles had invented the wheel. She'd watched Monty Python once at Tracey's request and would not have been surprised if Alecto thought the muggles were all in the dark middle ages gathering mud.

"Filthy animals!" declared Pansy as Millicent described dry toilets. She raised her eyes from the book.

"Liar!" It was Finnigan. Of course, he was a half-blood after all. The boy was positively red-faced.

"Thank you for that outburst. Sit down, mister Finnigan." She glared at the boy but registered carefully that the boy was perilously close to drawing a wand.

Thankfully Draco chose to cut in and shook his head using that same bored and disgusted tone:"I heard that their weaponry is a bit more advanced. What is this gone-powder?"

"Ah, yes. Gun-powder." Millicent took a breath. "The muggles are quite well-versed in war. Gun-powder is used in their long-distance weapons." She proceeded into a lecture on guns and bullets.

At least Pansy for a moment seemed immersed in new info. And it was certainly a less dangerous terrain that dry toilets…Even Finnigan's beet-red face was slowly turning back to normal.

That is until…"Surely some pellets are no match against a killing curse!" stated Nott, clearly having not listened to a word Millicent had said.

"I'd like to see you say the killing curse with your head blown clean off," hissed Elsa. Unusally full of fight and apparently having had a closer relationship to the resident muggle-borns in her house than previously thought.

"Well, won't a protego take care of that simply? Or you could just heal it. It is merely a tiny hole after all!" stated Nott confidently.

"I'd love-"

"Miss Selwyn, that's quite enough." Millicent took a deep breath. "But mister Nott, I believe in this case miss Selwyn has a point. While they might be simply little pellets of metal, they can do a surprising amount of damage in the right place. And while a protego might prove effective, it won't help if a muggle sneaks up on you. Now while miss Selwyn is not entirely correct, as I am not sure if a regular gun could "blow someones head clean off", there is hardly reason to underestimate one's enemies."

Nott seemed to want to say something more but just then a knock came on the door and a small Ravenclaw girl slipped in. "I am sorry, professor Carrow, but I have a message for you. From the headmaster. He wants to see you immediately!"


	14. Do You Need To Get Checked?

Chapter 13 "Do You Need to Get Checked?"

Millicent Bulstrode was freaking out. In all her years at Hogwart's she had never been sent to the headmaster. In fact she had stayed well out of that office except for one time when she had to distract Snape. But distracting Snape by pretending to be a clueless little girl with romantic troubles was one thing. Pretending to be a member of the school's administration was completely different. So it was with a heavy heart that she walked up to the headmaster's office.

The only consolation was that Draco had been left in charge of the muggle studies class so this was not something she had to deal with. Which wasn't really all that of a consolation either. She came to a halt in front of the headmaster's office and came to the realization that she didn't know what the password was. Of course Alecto Carrow KNEW…but they had in all the commotion completely forgotten to ask…

Millicent cursed inwardly and stared at the ugly gargoyle. If it was still Dumbledore's office then she might get away with throwing a few obscure candy names at it. But she could not ever even consider Severus Snape saying "Lemon Drops" or "Sugar Mice" to the gargoyle every time he had to get up there.

So what would her head of house say? Vampire? Bat? I love to brood? She shook her head. "Hogwart's? Slytherin? Headmaster's office? Broody Vampire?" Millicent could have sworn the gargoyle smirked at that last one.

"Look, there's a reason I am not in Ravenclaw. But I really need to get in there! Please?" She didn't have time for all of this.

"Forgot the password again, sis?" Amycus grinned at Millicent rather maliciously. "Jus Sanguinis,"* The gargoyle popped open and Amycus shook his head. "I hope you didn't keep the headmaster waiting. You know how he hates that!"

"Oh shut up. Not like you've never forgotten a password!" snapped Millicent and strolled up the stairs, not in a real hurry to meet Snape but not really wanting to speak with Amycus either.

And yet in a few seconds she kind of wished that she could simply melt through the floor and not be in front of the headmaster.

To say that Severus Snape was angry was an understatement. That was like calling Lord Voldemort a bit radical. The man was positively fuming over something and it seemed that he was most angry with Alecto Carrow. Which was rather inconvenient.

"What can I do for you, headmaster?" Pitch black eyes snapped onto her and she forced herself to face him.

"Would you care to explain this?"

A paper was showed into Millicent's chest. She took it wearily and read over it, feeling her heart drop. It was a report from madame Pomfrey. A very scathing report that described in great detail how one Ernie Macmillan had been admitted into the hospital wing after a detention with her. Not her. With Alecto Carrow. It was bad. It was really bad. And now she was about to have to defend professor Carrow's actions.

"I do not understand, headmaster! He was causing trouble, inciting the rest of them!"

Severus shook his head. "Are you completely stupid, woman? This is a Macmillan we are talking about. They might be blood traitors but they are a member of the sacred twenty eight. Pure-bloods. This isn't even the Weasleys we are talking about. I will not have you cripple a pure-blood!"

"But sir, nothing is working. He won't stop challenging us!" stated Amycus, rushing to his sister's defense. "I am sure whatever Alecto did was nothing unreasonable!"

"Nothing unreasonable? He questioned you in class and you sent her to the hospital wing! For once you two must think-" Snape continued his rant but something else caught her eye. She could have sworn Dumbledore's portrait was discreetly winking at her.

She frowned and the portrait smiled at her kindly. Oh no, she won't get a portrait get into her head. This was just Dumbledore. He probably smiled even as Snape raised his wand to kill him.

"Professor Carrow, am I boring you?"

Millicent blinked and looked up, only realizing now that she'd been addressed three times before she reacted. "What? No, sir. No. Yes, I will try a different method of controlling Macmillan."

Now the other Carrow was also staring at her. "What? You agree with him?" Amycus blurted, unable to contain his surprise.

"Er? Yes? Maybe I went too far…" the words died on Millicent's lips as she was not sure what she should say. Probably not that as Snape was perilously close to staring at her with his jaw dropped.

"Are you okay, professor Carrow?" he asked after a few seconds.

"What? Oh, yes. I'm fine." She nodded. "I'm fine. I understand what you are saying. Of course we should not alienate the pure-bloods too badly. I am sure I can make Macmillan see sense!"

Snape didn't look convinced but was also seemingly too busy to care about the rest. "Alright, then there was another matter I had to discuss." The anger had died down a bit in his voice as he walked back behind his desk. "Our Lord has informed me that there will be an inspection of Hogwart's in the next few days. I trust you can fix the disciplinary problems by then? I don't think any of us want to look like a fool in front of him, do we?"

That sent Millicent's mind in motion. An inspection? More death-eaters? How the hell were they going to survive that? Carrow and Snape were one thing. The first was an idiot and the second one was hopefully too busy to occlude to use legilimency on his staff. Hopefully. But more? No-no-no. She needed to get back to Tracey. They either needed to come up with a brilliant plan or get out of the castle.

"Are you quite sure you are okay?" Snape took a step towards Millicent. "Do I need to get madame Pomfrey?"

Millicent kicked herself mentally. "I'm fine. Just a bit of cold. I will deal with it. And yes, we will make sure everything is polished and ready for the inspection to show just how good we are doing!"

Snape glared at her. "Well then get yourself some cold medicine. The last thing we need is a flu epidemic! And get a damn grip!"

"Yes, headmaster!"

"Then I suggest you both get out of here. There will also be a staff meeting about this tomorrow, where I expect you both to be present and back me up. Now get out."

* * *

Tracey was just walking back from the kitchen with a pretty red apple in your hand and life was generally good. It was the afternoon and Draco had handled the muggle studies class quite well. With the exception of one angry Finnigan. Which wasn't that big of a loss. And one Blaise who now seemed too curious about muggle weaponry. The questions would make her mad, she was sure of that. But first a dark shadow appeared behind Tracey and she nearly jumped, her hand going for her wand.

Headmaster Snape looked down at the girl with an ominous look and his glare was enough for Tracey to tuck the wand back into its holster. "What did you do to professor Carrow?"

"Sir?" Got her tied up in a trunk and substituted with a polyjuiced student, why do you need to know?

"An imperius? A confundus?" the headmaster demanded.

Tracey shook her head carefully, raising her occlumency shields and then taking a confident bite of the apple both to buy time and also to look sufficiently free of any kind of worries. "I don't know what you mean, sir!"

"Well, it wasn't a Gryffindor, they were all accounted for. So it had to be one of you." Snape took a step closer and leaned down to look the girl in the eye.

"Respectfully, sir, I don't know what you are talking about. And even if I did, you once said you didn't want to know about anything we did unless it came back to bite you."

Snape stared at her for a bit longer before nodding briefly. "Whatever you did or didn't do, you'd better fix it before Friday. Bellatrix Lestrange is coming to inspect the school and Alecto Carrow had better be completely fine when that happens. Am I clear?"

Tracey's grip on the apple became so tight she thought it would pop out of her hand then and there but she nodded. "Yes, sir. If it was our doing, it will be fixed, sir." Yet in truth she was in no way sure that this was something she could or should ever promise.

* * *

* _Jus Sanguinis means right of blood in Latin. It is also a principle of nationality law where citizenship is given to children based on whether either one or both of their parents were also citizens of the state. I thought it might be appropriate as the pure-bloods also think that the circumstances of their birth give them special standing.  
_


	15. Of Meetings and Inspections

Chapter 14 "Of Meetings and Inspections"

"Snape suspects we confounded Alecto." Tracey fell into a chair in Alecto's quarters and glanced from Draco to Zacharias to Millicent, who was still wearing Carrow's clothes, to Lisa. "He essentially told me to fix this before-"

"The inspection. He said that death eaters were coming to see how well the school was being run!" finished Millicent.

Tracey sighed. "Not just any death eaters. Your dear aunt Bella, Draco." She'd never seen Draco Malfoy go that particular shade of white before. He looked almost like his hair. "What? That bad?"

"Aunt Bella is crazy. And she knows legilimency."

"Alright. So we can't give her a reason to use it. Which brings me back to my original point of we need to shape the hell up. Snape is suspicious already. We can't afford to make anyone else that way."

"And first thing on the agenda is the professors' meeting this evening," Millicent chimed in. "I'd take it but someone has to brief Zacharias."

Tracey glanced at her. "One of these days you're going to tell me about what relationship you have with him. All of it. How you ended up oddly knowledgeable about a Huff is beyond me."

"Knowledge is power, is it not?" replied Millicent with a wink.

Tracey shrugged and took a deep breath. "I suppose we can't send Sue or Lisa either?"

"As their first attempt at playing professor Carrow? We thought perhaps not!" replied Blaise.

"Fine. I'll go. I'll go and pretend to have unconfounded Alecto." Tracey ran her fingers through her thin hair. "Next time we are kidnapping a male professor and I can watch you boys try playing an entirely different person…"

* * *

From a purely scientific standpoint it was rather interesting to be able to attend a Hogwart's staff meeting. As Tracey was a rather curious student, she did find it interesting to see, how the professors would act out of classrooms. On the other hand of course walking into a Hogwart's staff meeting as a Carrow felt like sticking your hand in a hornet's nest. With the one consolation that surely the professors would do nothing that might endanger the students. Still, treating this as an experiment allowed Tracey to calm her nerves a bit as she reached out and pushed open the door to the staff room.

With the addition of the Carrows, there hasn't been a real change in numbers in the staff room. It seemed that all save for Charity Bubbage, had chosen to return to the school. Professors McGonagall, Sprout, Flitwick and Slughorn are conversing in one corner quietly. As the heads of houses they all seemed to have aged a great deal in the last months.

Some on the other hand seemed to have been strengthened by the year they had to get through. Professor Trelawney sat on the lumpy couch, talking rather loudly to professor Sinistra and looking surprisingly saner than ever, making Tracey wonder if that was the way she truly was outside of classes or had the war changed her. Now that she thought about it, the woman had apparently realized how bad taste it might be to predict students' deaths every class too this year.

Professor Binns dozed in a corner as always. And the final two professors, Vector and Grubbly-Plank had seated themselves on the other couch. Since this was a full staff meeting, Filch, madam Pomfrey and madam Hooch were also presented. Filch of course looked sour at his own corner while Pomfrey and Hooch discussed a Quidditch related injury and how best to handle it.

Of course all conversation died down as Tracey entered. For one wild moment she was unsure what to do. Then she wiped the deer-in-headlights look off her face as best she could and chose a chair that was both as far as possible from anyone in the room and also gave her a clear path to the door. In case she needed to make a run for it.

And then she just sat, her hands crossed against her chest and giving angry glares to anyone who dared stare too long. Not that she was too intimidating to people like McGonagall of course. Still, it was the easiest thing to act.

Nevertheless the chatter did not resume at the same level. Madams Pomfrey and Hooch continued their conversation and so did some others but everything seemed subdued. And the little pieces Tracey could catch from the people where boringly ordinary. They talked about school matters mostly. Though behind her she could hear McGonagall rather loudly chastise the choices of punishment. She chose to ignore it mainly. Pretend she couldn't understand they were talking about her.

"Ah, sister! Here you are!" Amycus's arrival had prompted another round of silence but the man seemed more or less unbothered. He swooped into the chair next to her and gave her a glare. "Where did you disappear off to? I thought we were supposed to have dinner together?"

"Sorry. I had matters to deal with. A few students."

"And you're feeling better now?"

At this Tracey thought she could feel a glare on the back of her head. Someone was paying close attention. "Yes, yes. All better. It was just a bit of a cold, I told you. I took a potion and I'm fine now." She waved him off with irritation.

"Alright, if you're sure." He leaned back. "I thought for a moment some of those annoying little buggers had slipped something in your food."

Tracey gave him a bored glare. "Your imagination is truly wonderful. Can't you just laugh at me for forgetting to take the flu prevention potions? I'm sure I would have noticed if some bastard had slipped me a potion." She glanced at her wand and then rubbed her left temple gently.

Just then the black-clad figure of the headmaster had appeared on the door. With that the room fell relatively silent, save for professor Trelawney who seemed to ignore the man's presence as blatantly as she possibly could. Only when the headmaster came to a stop at the center of the room, where he could see everyone, did the woman finally quiet down. Snape's eyes fell on her and she straightened herself, sending him a sour look. Right, game face on.

"If everyone is here, let's get started!" stated the stern silky voice and the headmaster lifted his piercing stare from Tracey, looking around the room now. "I have called this meeting because the ministry will be sending an inspector to Hogwart's by the end of the week. This inspector will be tasked with making sure that everything is running smoothly. Now, I'm sure you all understand how important this inspection will be. So if there are any issues I need to know about, tell them now." With that he turned towards the heads of houses who didn't seem too eager to respond.

"The actual date of the inspection is not disclosed. Obviously. So I expect you to keep your students in line. I need not remind you what might happen to anyone…not understanding the state of affairs." He lifted his glance from McGonagall who was glaring back defiantly, understandably filled with the intense desire to say a piece of her mind, and now looked at Tracey and Amycus. "I have already given professors Carrow the orders not to go easy on any of the troublemakers."

Oh no. Do not give me a _carte blanche_. What ever you do, not that. Tracey prayed to whatever god or goddess out there who could hear that her inner chaos not be reflected in her eyes.

"We will make sure that all the students know their place!" The maliciousness with which Amycus said it, was enough to send a shiver down Tracey's spine as she forced herself to nod.

"Headmaster, I must protest." It was madam Pomfrey, who had turned to also glare at Tracey and Amycus. "Their…educational methods are barbaric. I have had numerous students in the hospital wing for the smallest infractions-"

"Well, maybe because they know they can come running to you every time that they get a paper cut, they are not taking their punishments seriously."

"If they took their punishments more seriously, they'd be dead!" snapped professor Sprout.

Tracey considered if she jump in to defend Amycus but before she reached a decision, a loud thud brought everyone's attention back to the headmaster.

"Enough! Madam Pomfrey, I have spoken at length to the Carrows and they will confine their punishments to more reasonable things. But professor Carrow is right, madam Pomfrey. There is no need to attend to the students after they have had approved detention." Madam Pomfrey looked just about ready to protest but Tracey could see madam Hooch touching her friend's hand ever so lightly in warning. This was as the best they could get in this battle.

"There has also been an increase in the number of incidents around school with vandalism and graffiti. Therefore I am moving the curfew up to 8pm from Monday to Thursday and 9pm from Friday to Sunday. Any student found wandering the hallways after curfew without a slip from a professor is to be given detention immediately." Which professor McGonagall for example will undoubtedly enforce. "Furthermore, I want to be notified about any and all acts of vandalism and incitement." Snape took a breath. "Now, I believe there was some issue to discuss about the end of the year exams?"

Tracey found herself almost dozing off for the rest of the meeting. The professors it turned out, were almost as loud as the students could be. They were also almost as rude. Tracey found herself smirking inwardly at professor McGonagall interrupting professor Flitwick and then professor Sprout whispering with professor Trelwaney during professor Vector's turn to speak. If she had done that during the arithmancy class…or interrupted the transfigurations professor…well, it would not have been pretty for her. That was for sure.

The meeting went on and Tracey had to fight quite a few yawns. Luckily though, it seemed this was not unusual for professor Carrow. Amycus was a little more lively but even he didn't bother much unless the topic concerned him directly.

Finally it was her time to speak though. "Professor Carrow, what about the muggle studies?"

She sat up straighter in her chair and nodded. "The lessons are going well. There are of course still some false narratives that the students cling to. And some students unwilling to face and learn the truth. But all in all they will be ready for the exams!"

"Excellent. And you are sure you can control the trouble-makers?"

Tracey nodded. "I will manage!"

"I have offered to help her out. When they get too out of control!" stated Amycus, smiling at her.

Yes. And I can offer to help find you a cliff to leap off of. Tracey nodded. "If it proves too much, I am sure that we will find a way."

"Just make sure there won't be any ugly surprises. And I am still waiting to see your submitted plans for the exam," stated Snape irritably.

Right. Exam. "I am sorry for the oversight, professor. I will deal with it as soon as I can." If I get out of this war alive, I will never ever become a professor. I swear. Tracey resisted the urge to rub her temples again.

* * *

Finally the staff meeting adjourned and Tracey wanted nothing more than to run back to the potions classroom and change, then go find all her co-conspirators. Unfortunately this time Amycus insisted on walking her back and she couldn't exactly draw more attention on herself. Thus she listened to the man go on and on while putting in a comment or two, not really listening.

At the door to her room she stopped and smiled. "Well, I have some more papers to grade, I'm afraid. And tomorrow's lessons to prepare."

"Of course. Good night, sis!"

"Night, dear brother of mine."

She watched the man walk away before starting for the opposite direction. She tried her best to keep an eye on her surroundings. Constant vigilance had been an excellent thing to live by after all.

And unfortunately what her eye caught was a very enraged professor McGonagall heading her way. She brushed against the handle of her wand and tried to look sure of herself. A thing that was increasingly difficult when one had to face down that particular woman. In addition to the first unfortunate thing about this situation, she also misread how the professor would handle the situation.

In a split-second she was nearly pushed against a wall with a very angry professor staring at her from mere inches. "I don't care who you have authorization from, I will not have you send any more of my students to the hospital wing," the woman hissed dangerously.

Oh great. What the hell had she done now. Or Alecto done now anyway. Well, the usual apparently. And this led to Tracey swallowing hard and doing the one thing she had thought she never do. Threaten the already angry professor. "And what will you do? You forget your place, McGonagall. I have been given reign over all disciplinary matters. And you would do well to remember that you are speaking to the deputy headmaster!" She gave a push and managed to shove the woman back a bit.

For a second pure vitriol flashed in the woman's eyes but she kept a hold of her temper. "If I find out you've done something like that to my students again, I will personally see to it that your body is never found." With that the woman left and Tracey was left scratching her head about the "something like that" as well as the oddly Gryffindorly display from the professor. It was the stress she finally decided. This war was making everyone crazy.

* * *

"We can't do this. We don't even know when she is coming. It is too risky!" Draco paced back and forth in the common room.

"Riskier than releasing Alecto from the trunk and hoping she won't talk?" snapped Blaise.

"You don't know my aunt Bella. She will mess this up. We will be found out."

They were sitting in the potions classroom, everyone involved with the deception. It was about twenty minutes to curfew and they were trying to hold a meeting of their own but so far it had been about Draco and Blaise fighting.

Finally Sue had had enough. "Shut up, both of you. I think it is pretty clear we are not releasing Carrow. She is safe and sound in that trunk and we do not want her out of there. As for aunt Bella? We all knew it was risky. Hell, some of us agreed because it was risky. Now we shall continue as planned. Tomorrow I will be Alecto. Then Lisa. And whoever it happens to be that ends up being her on inspection they just has to do a damn convincing job."

"And remember, Bellatrix has no reason to suspect that something is wrong with Alecto. We don't know that she will be trying to discover that," chimed in Lisa, "As for the exams, we will deal with them. We can go through Carrows papers and tests and make up something. The last thing we can afford now is to panic." She stood up and put her hands on her hips determindely.

Zacharias hesitated. "We…we could warn the Gryffs too. That they need to tone it down for the week. Or Carrow will start beheading people. I can drop a discreet hint."

"This is war," agreed Lisa, "And what we will do is survive the best we can. The only way we can."


	16. When Auntie Bella Visits

Chapter 15 "When Auntie Bella Visits"

Life, as Tracey Davis had discovered at an early age, was full of both small and big disappointments. And whoever the god or goddess of luck was, they had a mean streak in them. At least that is how the Slytherin began to view it after what they had all started to call "Dear aunt Bella's visit".

They had after Draco's stern warning done everything they could to prepare. They'd taken to giving each other as much practice as possible and making other preparations, while hoping so badly that Bella would show up at the right time. Obviously she didn't.

In fact it was only Lisa's second attempt at being a Carrow when Bellatrix Lestrange entered the castle. It happened during breakfast and for a moment Tracey was sure she would choke on the dry bread she'd been picking at. The witch walked straight into the great hall, looking like an escapee from the Janus Thickery ward and wand in her hand as if she was prepared to start casting curses left and right. By the tales Tracey had heard from Draco, she would not have been surprised if the crazy bitch would end up crucioing herself once she ran out of all other potential victims to torture.

Her arrival caused the entire great hall to fall silent. Even the professors stopped chattering and if headmaster Snape had not looked already like a vampire, even he would probably have paled a shade or two. The students kept their eyes on the new arrival though from the corner of her eye Tracey could see that the Longbottom boy was clutching his wand, knuckles gone white from the harsh grip. Of course...Tracey shuddered thinking about the fates of the poor boy's parents. Idly she wondered too if Zach had had the chance to properly warn the Gryffindors. Not that it would do much…They were a pigheaded bunch. She shook those thoughts off as irrelevant and turned back to the table where the deputy headmasters sat. Lisa was doing her very best to stay in character and she even had some half-assed occlumency shields on…good unless Bellatrix goes prodding…Maybe they should just hex the death eater on the spot. Then they could take down the other Carrow and maybe flee to a better life somewhere else. Voldy's reach did not seem to go outside Britain for now... No. Tracey's fingernails dug into the palm of her hand and she shook her head. There would be no acts of cowardice. Not if there was another option.

"Madame Lestrange, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Snape's voice was silky and his eyes once again unreadable. There was even that very delicate hint of annoyance at being disturbed during breakfast.

The woman zeroed in on Snape and took a step forward. "Headmaster!" she spoke in a sing-songy voice and made some kind of an odd gesture towards Snape that might have been a greeting or something obscene. "I was sent by our lord to make sure that the education of our young ones is up to the necessary standards."

The headmaster nodded. "You are welcome to observe any class you should need then, madame. Do let me know if I can do anything else for you or our lord."

Our lord…Tracey could not help but wonder if Snape really considered Voldy his lord…She was actually on the fence about whether he was a spy or not…he HAD killed Dumbledore but then…She pushed those thoughts away as well. Whatever Snape was, this was not the time. Her eyes followed Bellatrix as the woman approached the male Carrow…

* * *

There had been an emergency meeting right after breakfast, as discreetly as possible, where Draco had taken the lead an ordered that Lisa had a shadow at all times. Surprisingly, or perhaps less so since he had spent the summer with the madwoman, he had agreed with Tracey that if Lisa should slip up, the best course of action was to stun the witch and then stuff him in some broom closet until they had the chance to do something about it. As contingency plans went, it was probably the most idiotic of them.

Which is how Tracey and Blaise ended up behind the door of the muggle studies classroom while the third year class was in session. And since the god or goddess of luck had such a wonderful sense of humor, that was the exact time when Bellatrix decided to shadow that class. The corridor had never felt so cold as the two Slytherins huddled together to spend their free period very close under an invisibility cloak using one of the Weasley twin's extendable ears to eavesdrop.

To her credit, so far Lisa had kept it together. She spoke with a voice only slightly shivering but apparently this was not unusual even of those in the inner circles of the dark lord. To be afraid of auntie Bella. Still, Lisa went proudly through the materials of the class.

The only mild interruption was a third year Gryffindor who had to play the hero and defend muggles on something. A moment on tense panic followed in silence after Terrence Scott leapt up and declared "Muggles are not animals!"

Then Lisa drew in a deep breath and hissed out:"Detention!" Bellatrix had not had the chance to cast a crucio. And the boy was for all his poor qualities, like being an idiot, at least a half-blood idiot with not a very unimportant mother. Still, Lisa rushed through the rest of the lesson without so much as taking a breath as if not allowing a pause in what she says would mean no one else could get a word in. If only there was a spell to make the time within the classroom go faster than it did anywhere else…

After the hour finally ended the classroom cleared up faster than at the end of detention with Filch. The door nearly slammed Tracey in the face as the students tried to get away from the glare of crazy.

Bellatrix stayed behind. "I would have thought, dear Alecto, that you'd be more forceful with them. They need a hard hand. Not the liberty of running around interrupting classes with their ridiculous notions."

"It is a work in progress!" sighed Lisa as she sat down and hid her face in her arms, trying to make it seem like she was rubbing at her temples to chase away a headache. "But the Gryffindors are a stubborn lot…" She shook it off. "And he is a half-blood so we are still limited by what we can do to him. To have Euphemia Burke's daughter show up causing trouble…she did marry a muggle- mudblood but she is still not entirely without influence…"

Bellatrix regarded her with an arched eyebrow. "Muggleborn? Surely you are not getting soft, Alecto, dear? Wouldn't want to tell the dark lord now, that you are slipping. You, the one in charge of educating the youngest…" She brandished her wand as if just waiting for a reason to use it…

Lisa felt her heart beat in her throat like she'd swallowed a small dwarf that was now trying desperately to dig its way out. She wondered if it would ever find its way back to the cavity in her chest…But very slowly she began to speak, her occlumency shields only holding on by a thread. "This garbage is turning my brain into mush. You wouldn't believe what this office was filled with when I came to clean it up. I went through some of my…predecessor's…books. Just to understand what it really was that had been done to students on previous years."

Bellatrix frowned but her wand slipped back into her palm, out of the fighting stance. "I hope you burned that trash."

"Oh yeah. There's just a lot of damage to undo!"

"As long as I don't have to report to our lord that you have changed towards worse. Wouldn't want to think that you are suddenly on their side!"

"I am a loyal follower!" She stood up. "Can I help you with anything else?"

Bellatrix shook her head. "No, I have other classes to oversee. Thank you, Alecto!"

"You're welcome."

As soon as the door closed behind Bellatrix, Lisa crumbled into a heap leaning against a table. She was sure she had aged about a decade...

Outside Tracey didn't dare breath out before Bellatrix'es footsteps had disappeared. Then she gathered herself out of Blaise's lap where she had fallen at the woman's sudden exit.

"Oh, please don't feel the obligation to leave now, we were just getting…comfortable."

"Shut up, Blaise!" It was good though. To lighten the mood a bit. And maybe just maybe at least Tracey would not have to be near Bellatrix more this day…

* * *

There was still that thing about Lady Luck. Or maybe Sir Luck. There were two obvious options. One the one hand there was the possibility that Tracey Davis had already in her seventeen years used up every piece of luck she'd been allotted. Or on the other hand perhaps in her future there was something even more dreadful to come and the gods of faith had determined she'd need luck more then. She wasn't even sure which was worse. She just wished that in the corner of her transfiguration class with seventh year Gryffindors would not be sitting the honorable crazy bitch herself…

So Tracey did the only reasonable thing. She stood up and began stuffing her books back in the bag. "Oh hell no, I am not doing this. I'm done!" with that she walked straight out of the classroom and all the way out the castle. Further back stood the herd of thestrals munching on their lunch and Tracey picked the healthiest looking, mounted and away she went.

But meanwhile in the real world she could sadly do none of those things. Not the least of which was that there had been some wards put up around Hogwart's to prevent the unauthorized departure of students after Harry Potter's little escapade in the ministry of magic during school hours. Pretty funny actually that only after that debacle had they thought to put up wards to keep students from sneaking out. For one would think if your job is to be responsible for the most precious purebloods of Britain, you'd do anything not to be the one blamed when one of the idiots get themselves killed.

Instead she sat down with a sigh and took out her things. Malfoy quirked an eyebrow at her and she shook her head. She was fine. She could do this. Apparently Malfoy understood at least an ounce of what was going through her mind because he nodded sharpely and then turned his attention back to the class.

Minerva McGonagall was a highly respected professor. Even amongst the Slytherins, despite her status as head of Gryffindor house. But Tracey had to renew that respect at the way the stern Scotswoman held herself throughout the class. She did her best to ignore the deranged witch and carry on as normal as possible under such circumstances. She pursed her lips and for the sake of the children she pushed through.

The Gryffindors themselves seemed to have some sense of self-preservation as well, as the Slytherins were surprised to find out. They did not allow themselves to be baited by the presence of Bellatrix, even Neville. Despite the tension in his body. It seemed that the woman sitting next to her, Lavender Brown, was determined to keep him from doing anything stupid, even by putting simply a hand on his shoulder.

Then about half-way through the class Bellatrix grew tired of simply spectating. She stood up and moved in front of the classroom where McGonagall was demonstrating turning books into butterflies, a spell which incidentally Tracey was almost entirely sure no one would ever need.

Apparently Bellatrix agreed. "That's all very well and good, professor," the emphasis put on "professor" sent a shiver down Tracey's spine. "But why not teach them something more useful, that will serve their dark lord better?" For emphasis she whipped out her wand and cast a spell. An incantation that Tracey could not catch and one of the butterflies fluttering around in the room fell on the table in front of her now twitching slightly, its both wings burned.

Professor McGonagall's face twitched and it looked like she was trying very hard to swallow something she definitely should not say. But at Bellatrix's next words she almost loses control. "Now children, you try and. There are plenty of butterflies to go around!"

Tracey couldn't help but feel disgusted with herself as she raised the wand and tried halfheartedly to cast the same spell. She watched with a sense of relief as the butterfly merely fluttered past, not even slightly bothered by the girl waving a wand. Of course some of the butterflies were not that lucky. The one near Crabbe did not react as violently as Bellatrix's had but it was still gross to watch.

But it was when auntie Bella circled in on Neville Longbottom that Tracey's heart truly sank. She felt like she was sitting on an ice bank watching the Titanic as it approached the ice berg. Or watching the Hindenburg trying to dock. It was that feeling you got when you realized that an accident was about to occur but you already also knew what was to come next. The boy's fists clenched and his eyes were a strange kind of numb. He was seemingly moving without acknowledging really what he was doing, trying to force out the sing-song voice of "How are your parents, Longbottom? They were so fun to play with, Longbottom." Behind her professor McGonagall seemed to be praying to whatever deity was out there that the boy would not react.

A split second and Tracey sent out a message. She wasn't even exactly aware of her actions. Her fingers just slipped over the cool ring with the desperate plea. Someone, anyone…please save me from this. Save me from having to watch this boy get hurt. Just do something.

Neville's patience was wearing very thin. He was holding onto his wand so tightly that his knuckles had turned a sharp white, teeth clenched. But it wasn't until Bellatrix turned towards Lavender Brown:"Perhaps you need some encouragement, Longbottom? A reminder what happens when people don't play with me-" Her wand rose slowly, mouth formed the letters. And Longbottom leapt from his chair. Tracey had always thought that slow-motion was just a muggle trick in those silly movies her mother had introduced her and papa to. But apparently it existed in the magical world as well. Either that or Draco had cast a spell for dramatic effect…

Well, whichever was the case, Tracey too leapt from her chair and whipped out her wand, not sure, what she was going to do. She watched in cold horror as two spells formed at the tips of wands and were ready to be released towards their respective targets.

"BELLATRIX!" it was enough to rip everyone out of their trances and stop the slow-motion. Longbottom's desk crashed onto the floor from the force of having leapt up. Bellatrix's head whipped around, eyes sparkling maniacally.

Lisa stood there rather unsteady. She was out of breath and her robes were a bit smeared with something that Tracey could not exactly identify. At that moment she didn't really look much like a dangerous death eater.

"WHAT?"

"You need to come…quickly…something…" She motioned for the witch to follow, trying to catch her breath. There was a sense of urgency in her voice as she motioned for the woman to follow. Bellatrix hesitated for a moment but then she was already running after the woman.

Tracey snapped back into the moment. Her wand slipped back into the holster in her sleeve and she glanced at Malfoy. There was worry shown in the edges of his bored mask. They had to follow after the women. They had to help. Whatever was going on they had to…But they couldn't. They could only sit back down and wait patiently until professor McGonagall finished the class.

* * *

The last message on the ring was from Lisa. Everything under control. Tracey was thankful they had at least that way of communication and that they had shared it with the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. But she could not help but clench the worry in her chest and the moment that McGonagall let them go she was up on her feet and out of the classroom. She didn't even check if Malfoy was following her. She just ran through the corridors towards the quarter of Alecto Carrow.

The body was lying there, slumped over half-way to her quarters. No, to the professor's quarters. Some blood and cuts, her body shook with the after effects of the curse and a grimace of pain was plastered on her face. A look Tracey was sure would later haunt her for a while. But she almost broke down in relief when she felt the weak pulse.


	17. The Lion and the Snake

Chapter 16 "The Lion and the Snake"

There were not enough curse words left for Tracey to mutter. She'd gone through both the muggle and the wizarding ones and had left the other conspirators staring at her in wonder.

"Wow. I didn't know there would be so many bad words in the English language!" commented Blaise.

Tracey sent him a glare and shook her head. "So we are all out of the crucio relief potion? Seriously?"

"If I confirm that, will you then go into that curse word loop again?" asked Millicent carefully as she continued cleaning the wounds on Lisa's hand.

Tracey shrugged. "I might. Why are we out of that?"

"Because we had to barter with it to get rid of Blaise's little problem and because the Carrows were cursing people left and right. And then we had to start brewing Polyjuice Potion to make sure we don't run out of that at a bad moment."

"Yes well, great. And now she's lying there shaking badly unable to tell us even what the hell happened." Tracey ran a hand through her hair and bit her lip. "Alright, so what do we do? She's suffering!"

"Madame Pomfrey?" asked Blaise hesitantly.

"Are you kidding me right now? She still looks like Alecto-Bloody-Carrow!"

"Enough of this." Millicent threw the sponge back into the bowl of water and shook her head. "We can't take her to Madame Pomfrey. For a whole list of reasons. So we need to get that potion from somewhere!" She turned to Tracey: "How long does it take to brew this thing?"

Tracey shook her head. "Too long. At least four days for the potion to mature."

"So can we get that potion from any other source?"

"Well, I doubt Sluggy has it. Otherwise he'd been distributing it too. Snape might…any volunteers for that?"

Silence followed. No one wanted to really. But on the bed Lisa groaned and Millicent turned back to tend to the girl. A few more seconds passed. Finally Draco took a breath. "Well, I guess there's one more option…"

* * *

Tracey did not like this plan in any way. No matter which way she looked at it. And if it wasn't for the stupid Ravenclaw currently lying in Alecto Carrow's quarters and making the most gut-wrenching noises, then she definitely would not have been there hanging around the Gryffindor dorm room.

She stared at the Fat Lady and the portrait glared back. "I'm not letting you in!" "I don't need you to let me in. I have far better places to be than that dorm room, believe me." She really wasn't interested in getting stuck with a room full of hungry lions. "Can I just…I don't know? Send a message? I want to talk to miss Weasley." Well, gods knew that wasn't true but she still needed to talk to the girl.

The portrait scoffed at her: "Do I look like a carrier pigeon to you?"

"No, you absolutely don't look like a carrier pigeon but I still need to-" just then the portrait moved and an irritated Neville Longbottom stepped out, his hair messy and more confidence in his eyes than Tracey had ever seen before.

"Why are you here causing a bloody ruckus?" he demanded loudly.

"Ah, Longbottom. Look, I need a word with your ginger girlfriend. Please?"

Neville raised an eyebrow: "And why would a snake want to talk to miss Weasley?"

"To confess my undying love of course. Look, just tell her it is about that time she snogged Blaise, okay?"

"She never snogged Blais-" Neville sighed. "Alright, if you promise to stop screeching like a wounded werewolf, I will ask her if she wants to come here." A wounded werewolf? That was rich. She had just raised her voice a tiny bit. But at least Tracey knew not to start arguing when she was winning so she pursed her lips and nodded. She did however wonder, when Neville had decided to grow up and be a badass.

The boy gave her one more glance and then disappeared into the common room. Tracey closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself. Her fingers brushed against the wand and the smooth wood made her feel a bit better.

"What do _you_ want?" Ginny Weasley did not look happy to see her. In fact she looked just about as grumpy as anyone who had to face Bellatrix and not scratch her eyes out.

"The potion I gave you. I need one bottle of it back!" replied Tracey, throwing her head back and smiling confidently.

"Really? And you think I am what? Your personal potions store? News flash, Davis, you are still a slimy snake, even if I lied once at your request. You don't get to show up here to ask me for fav-" She paused. "Why would you want crucio relief stuff anyway? As far as I know, snakes don't get cruciod. They are too busy sucking up."

"You wound me, miss Weasley. I am afraid though, that I can't really discuss with you why I need it or for whom. I would just consider it a personal favor if you gave me a bottle."

Ginny shrugged. "Why would I ever do that?"

"Because then I'd _owe_ you one. And you do know how useful it can be."

Ginny snarled. "I don't think so. I think I am going to need an explanation before I hand out any potions."

Tracey stared at the girl. "Look, I am ready to offer you up a favor with no strings attached to it. Is that not enough?"

"No it is not. We don't have enough for our own even."

"Then maybe you should stop antagonizing the people in power!" Tracey knew it had been the wrong thing to say, as soon as it came out of her mouth. By then it was of course too late. Ginny's features had hardened and with a sneer that would have made Snape proud, she turned to go back through the portrait.

Tracey muttered a curse under her breath. Cursed her patience and shook her head. To think she had even gone to a Gryffindor. Snape would be so disappointed in her.

Snape. Ah shit. She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. Her only way out was to go and ask Snape if he by any chance had any of the potion lying around. To think that just a few minutes ago she had thought so badly about Gryffindor common room…

"No wait, please." She inhaled sharply. "A Raven got on the wrong end of a wand held by Bellatrix, okay? But she is already on thin ice and she did it as a favor to one of us slimy snakes so I'd really appreciate being able to return the favor. Please? I promise, after this you can ask for anything in my power, if you just give me a vial?"

Ginny seemed taken aback by the way Tracey had acted, apparently quite unlike the usual snakes she was used to, so after a moment of hesitation she finally nodded slowly. "One vial. Wait here."

* * *

"Here. But keep in mind that I sold my soul to a weasel for this." Tracey handed over the vial and Sue tipped it into Lisa's mouth. After only one moment the girl stopped shaking and her features, well, Alecto's features really, relaxed.

Tracey exhaled and closed her eyes in relief. Millicent brought a glass of cold water over and offered it to the girl. At least she no longer she looked like hell. She looked like someone who had just been ripped out of hell. "Bellatrix…"

"Yes, Bellabitch, we figured. Don't try to talk just yet. Try breathing," whispered Millicent as she helped the girl drink.

"I drew her away. I told her that there was trouble on the third floor…I messed up…she saw the dungbombs…" She took a breath: "I…I must have…slipped up when I spoke…She said…needed a reminder which side…Don't think she suspects…thinks Alecto is dumb as a…mosstroll."

Tracey stepped froward and placed a hand on Lisa's shaking shoulder. "Hush, love, no need. You did good. It will be alright. You should probably sleep. We will find a way to cover for you tomorrow, okay? And I can be Alecto for the rest of the day if needed. Bellabitch is gone now too."

She wanted to say something else when suddenly a hand brushed against her own shoulder. Millicent had new alarm in her eyes. "We have another problem. Draco spilled the last of our Polyjuice Potion..."

"Ah…shit."


	18. Rebellions Require Paperwork

**To PaperMagic and SammyBlueGA:** Thank you both so much for your kind words :)

Chapter 17 "Rebellions Require Paperwork"

Odes do not provide an accurate description of a rebellion. In fact they are a at best the distilled version of all the fun parts, but what most people never realize, is how much paperwork is involved in a rebellion. Two thirds of everything was about creating and discarding plans or constantly putting out fires that threatened to destroy the whole mutiny. For example, the moment one thinks they have solved the latest issue, a Draco Malfoy comes along and breaks a bottle of rare and valuable Polyjuice Potion.

The Polyjuice Potion was a complex and time-consuming concoction. Not to mention the only recipe in Hogwarts was hidden in the restricted section. The last one was not that big of an issue though. Pureblood families always had other options than the legal channels. Especially families like the Malfoys.

However even the Malfoys could not speed up time around the potion to get it brewed faster, which left our mutineers in a bit of a pickle. A pickle Tracey Davis had been trying to solve for hours already, surrounded by parchments, scribbling things down and crossing them out again. Everyone else was doing their best to keep away, especially Malfoy, because when he had approached to apologies, she had turned the dangerous shade of purple and he had thought it better not to even open his mouth.

"No, no, no. Unless we can get it directly from a supplier, we are screwed!" Tracey threw a piece of crumpled parchment into the fire under a cauldron, where Millicent was brewing them some more crucio relief potion. The flames roared for a second and Millicent shot back a disapproving look.

"This _is_ a delicate potion!"

Tracey didn't even spare her a glance. "Alright, I think I have a plan." She took a breath. "Oh Draco? If I promise that I won't throw anything at you, will you come over?" The shade of purple had been accompanied by a jar of marinated slugs the last time.

Draco sighed. "What can I do for you?"

"You can make up for playing whack-a-mole with our valuable supplies." Tracey pushed a parchment forward. "A schoolmate of ours happens to have a father who deals in rare potions. And you, my darling silver-tongued devil, will convince them to aide us."

Draco glanced down at the parchment. "Oh. So you want me only because of my body?"

"Yes, Draco, I do." She stood up. "Alright, kiddies, where are we at?"

"You have been sitting and cursing in a corner for an hour!" Blaise smiled cheekily and bit into an apple.

Tracey smiled. "Yes, and I cursed my way to a possible solution which Draco will try. Now what is the status on everything else?"

Millicent stirred her potion and added some flowers into the mix. "Lisa is getting better. The potion was good. I think she will be well enough to go to class tomorrow. And I can leave this to brew so you no longer need to go and sell yourself to Gryffindors."

"I am about half-way through assembling these tests and my brain is about to drip out of my ears." reported Sue. "The bigger problem is us not having any Polyjuice Potion to send an Alecto Carrow to teach tomorrow. No matter how good a charmer Draco here is, I don't think we will get it so fast."

Tracey groaned. Then she sighed. Just going back to the corner to curse was a lovely idea. "Any other issues I have to deal with?"

"No, I think other than that we are fine." Blaise discarded the core of his apple.

"Yeah, well why do you look so smug? Not like you did anything…" hissed Draco as he walked past the boy. "I'm the one that has to go court the Ice Queen."

* * *

Daphne Greengrass was an odd sort of a Slytherin. She was a pure-blood witch and even of a Sacred Twenty-Eight family. At school she had been a part of Pansy Parkinson's gang, like most Slytherins her year but she had been it more out of convenience than anything else. In all other ways she was a sort of a puzzle. Tracey had never been close to her, which was why she had never even considered her for that little mutiny. She simply could not figure out if she could trust the girl enough. Until that moment, the possible betrayal had over-shaddowed any possible profit.

Except that amongst the Greengrass's many businesses was a set of top of the line apothecaries. There was no proof of course that they stocked the more illegal potions but there were some hints that they _were_ supplying Lord Voldemort and surely he required all sorts of interesting stuff. Like Polyjuice Potion.

But of course to approach Daphne Greengrass was a complicated issue. There was a good reason that Draco Malfoy had called her the Ice Queen. He'd never been able to quite crack her hard exterior to get to what was inside.

Even now Daphne sat daintly in the corner of the Slytherin Common Room, occasionally nodding along to whatever Pansy was complaining about at that particular moment. She barely acknowledged Draco when the boy entered. He paused on the door and hesitated. In his opinion they were all already head over heels in trouble and just adding people was not a viable option. But he _had_ just dropped a bottle of an important potion and they really _were_ out of other options.

He sighed and walked over to where the girls were chatting away. "Excuse me, Daphne. I was wondering if I could have a word?"

The girl arched an eyebrow and Draco saw a flash of jealousy cross Pansy's face before she managed to conceal it. "About what?" the girl drawled softly.

"I have a message for you from professor Carrow. Do you mind just stepping away from a moment?"

* * *

Tracey had taken over from Sue and was reading through the prepared test papers. She sighed and twirled her wand between her fingers. It was dull work and she really wished they had kidnapped the professor of some other subject. Any other subject for that matter.

From across the room Blaise grinned as he poured the potion Millicent had finished into small bottles. "Looking a bit down there, Trace!"

Tracey rolled her eyes and sent him an annoyed glance. "Next time we are kidnapping a teacher, it will be a male one. And then we shall see you trying to punish first year students for dearing to speak well of their muggle relatives or not wanting to write essays on how all Muggles are actual scum," she muttered under her breath.

They were alone in the potions classroom. Sue had escorted Lisa back to the Ravenclaw Dormitory once the Polyjuice Potion had finally worn off and Millicent had stumbled off to bed. Tracey couldn't do that before she knew for sure what became of Malfoy's endeavor, as little as she believed in it working, and Blaise had inexplicably decided to stay with her. Mostly they worked in pleasant silence, with only an occasional remark or two from the boy.

"You think he'll succeed?"

"Well, he'd better. Unless you want to politely pry Alecto back out from her cozy trunk." Tracey threw the paper down and rubbed her eyes. "Can't you find a way to make yourself useful? You are getting on my last damn nerve."

Blaise slipped off the table he'd been sitting on. "Sure, I can do that. Give me one of those papers." He lifted a red quill from the table and Tracey obliged. For a minute or two they worked in silence, then he scratched his head with the quill and sent the girl another one of his enigmatic smiles. "Do you think we will get out of this mess alive?"

It wasn't really a thing that Tracey wanted to dwell on. Not the least of which for the reason that alive was a very wide term. There were ways to be technically alive and yet they made her shudder. "I think I'll do my darnedest so we all will."

"And if we get caught?"

Seriousness didn't really suit Blaise, he was really supposed to be the one charming them all away. Tracey finished with the paper and put it away. "Then I suppose I'll do my best to take as many of them all the way to hell with me. Now could you please lighten up a little? I can't believe I am saying this, but you're getting me down."

Blaise shrugged and for a moment Tracey saw a flash of something cross his face. Perhaps he had a point. What had happened to Lisa had made the mutiny real and there was scarcely room for even one error. They were in a war.

* * *

Daphne stood with her arms crossed staring at Draco, an expectant look in her eyes. She had quietly followed the boy out of the Slytherin common room and even into a broom closet but she was quickly running out of patience and Draco was still undecided on his approach. He'd opened and closed his mouth several times, ran a hand through his blonde hair and chewed his lip and he still was unsure.

"Alright, Draco, spit it out, please. I don't have all night. What do you want of me?"

"I…I need your help, Daphne." He sighed, he didn't like appearing weak. Which was exactly the one thing the Ice Queen would like.

Daphne arched one eyebrow. "Oh?"

"I need a potion. One I know your father's store can provide!"

"This potion, I'm assuming it is illegal?" The girl studied Draco's face with care.

Draco nodded hesitantly. "Yes. And I can't tell you what it is-"

"I don't care what it is for. That's what you were going to say, wasn't it. What can you give me for it?"

"A favor? Anything you need?" Draco shrugged.

The girl's smile was cold as she shook her head. "No. I don't want your word you'll do something for me. Unfortunately at times of war a word is not enough. I want something now."

"Then is there something I can do for you right now?"

The girl look in the girl's eyes made Draco frowned. There was something about the girl that reminded him of his father. She seemed above all else a businesswoman and there would be no charming her. That did however mean, that she'd do business if she saw something of theirs she liked.

Sure enough, after a moment she nodded. "What potion do you need?"

"Polyjuice." If Draco had expected Daphne to be surprised, he was disappointed. Not even a shadow passed over the girl's face. She merely nodded, her perfectly manicured nails tapping in a slow rhythm against her left arm.

After a moment she smiled. "There's a book in the restricted section that I've been wanting to read. Unfortunately, so far I have failed at getting my hands on it. It is called "The Heritage of Magic". The moment that book falls on my desk, you'll get a bottle of Polyjuice potion, no questions asked." Having said her piece, she turned around and stalked out of the broom closet, leaving Draco behind, looking even more stricken that before.


	19. Thieves in the Night

**I apologize that this took so long and I'd like to thank Claude Amelia Song for inspiration for this chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 18 "Thieves in the Night"

A lot had changed at Hogwarts this last year and the library had not escaped that either. Before that, the library had not held many rare or dangerous volumes but now that definition had changed. Books that had been considered safe, had now been deemed dangerous and books in the restricted section ten times so. Some of the volumes had been removed from the shelves entirely and what remained was accessible only by written order of the headmaster or either of his deputies. The library itself had been warded off and those, who patrolled the halls, kept special attention on it.

Perhaps if Draco had time, he could have convinced Amycus to sign a slip for him. Or he could have tried anyway. He had no idea what exactly "The Heritage of Magic" was and thus had no idea how to justify it. However, Alecto's first class was to be at 8 sharp so if Daphne's word was good (and Draco decided not to dwell on what would happen if it wasn't), he needed to get the book before the teachers awaken.

He used his invisibility cloak to sneak through the hallways and came to a stop at the library doors. His pocket watch showed fifteen minutes to one. Draco slipped it back into his pocket with a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. It was too early to start. The perfects would be making a final round and then he'd have the moment to strike.

The wait was oddly excruciating, as was the idea itself. It wasn't that Draco Malfoy was a coward. At least not exactly. It was true that he had some rather annoying personality traits. He could be whiny occasionally and vain and arrogant but he was quite a bit brave and yet a life of crime had never been on the menu. He'd had no need to cause mischief because Crabbe and Goyle could easily be convinced to do it for him.

But war required him to adapt quickly to the situation and he did his best. The pocket watch ticked and the patrol passed by, not noticing him hiding in the shadows, far from the tired eyes of the perfect. With a soft sigh he counted the seconds and only once the steps in the hallway had faded completely did he head for the library doors.

They were locked but a quick _Alohomora_ took care of that, with Draco wondering what was even the point of locking doors in a school where everyone carried a master key called the wand. He supposed maybe it was meant to distinguish between the doors one was allowed to open and what one was not allowed to open, but surely in a school better safety measures were in order?

The section opened to all students looked rather bleak now, with whole shelves emptied of books simply due to a paragraph or two that contained information the new regime found unacceptable. Even though Draco had never been one to study long hours in the place, this still seemed somehow unnatural and bleak to him. It represented something deeper because books had always been a sort of a solace and yet…He wasn't supposed to be dreaming. With a huff he shook of those feelings and headed for the restricted section, which stood behind a tall locked gate-like door.

Here an unlocking charm would not have worked, the gate was tall and held closed with a large padlock. Draco hesitated, wondering how to overcome this obstacle. He drew his wand and tapped the lock gently, casting a simple diagnostic spell to find out where to go from there. The lock glowed red for a few seconds and he frowned. Then he retrieved a small pouch from his pocket and chose one of the slim lock picks. In general a Malfoy did not care for many muggle ways but over the years he'd learned that there were some things worth learning from them.

It was also one of the weaknesses most wizards made. They'd protect against every attack except the simplest ones. Thus Draco wasn't even that surprised when the lock stopped glowing and the door slipped open with a quiet creak under his touch. He smiled, satisfied with the outcome, put the lockpick set away and rearranged the invisibility cloak to hide himself better.

The restricted section looked empty. Whole shelves had been stripped bare, leaving behind only one or two books. As Draco moved between them, he almost worried that the book he was looking for might have been removed. After all, he didn't even know how dangerous the volume was that Daphne had requested.

Still, the shelves of history books were fuller and hope began to swell as he began going through the volumes. Most of them were old and dusty, gold letters peeling off the leather covers. Some looked like they'd fall apart at the briefest touch. Draco frowned as he reached the end of yet another shelf but before he could start to worry again, he finally found it.

 _The Heritage of Magic_ was a slim volume with simple black covers and headline written in a shade of grey so dark that it was nearly unnoticeable at first glance. He reached out for the book, momentarily so glad that he'd found it that he forgot all caution. And sure enough, the moment his fingers touched the book, he felt something go past his ear. He just barley managed to duck in time, the book forgotten and his hand going for his wand.

The spell going past Draco's ear had cause his heart to start racing but when he finally had the time to take a breath and turn his head, he realized it had never been meant for him. A few meters away he saw someone else, cloaked in black to obscure their identity, holding a wand and apparently casting spells at the room. Draco swore and backed away slowly, not sure if the other person had noticed his presence or if the invisibility cloak had hidden him enough.

The stranger made no move towards him, continuing to cast wordless spells. Draco squinted, trying to make out the wand movement and figure out the spell, as he could not hear the incantation nor see any obvious effects. It was a sort of an arc made by the tip of the wand. He thought harder, trying to imagine himself on the other end of the wand. What was it for…ah yes a su—

The thought was finished prematurely by something heavy slamming straight into his back and knocking the air right out of his lungs. He gasped, staggered forward and fell into a half-visible heap, one leg and half of a hand hovering in the air, clear to see for all, who'd only look. On top of the pile lay a heavy tome, as summoned by the stranger.

Draco struggled to get to his feet, all thoughts of hiding wiped from his mind. He yanked out his wand and sent a stunner towards the stranger. Now it was their turn to duck clumsily behind a bookshelf and stumble. Draco raced forward, yanked the book he had come for, from its shelf and headed for the door, the invisibility cloak dragging on the floor and his blonde hair clearly visible, unmistakably a Malfoy.

The stranger however leapt up from where they were laying, a heap of black robes and limbs and a bit of what Draco thought was few strands of red hair, and sent a hex towards him. He zig-zagged and the curse struck a bookshelf, sending books and paper flying. Draco cursed and cast a _protego_ just in time for the second spell. Whatever it was, it caused the shelf to shake dangerously.

Draco swore again and struggled to cover himself with the invisibility cloak before dashing out from the other side of the bookshelf and heading for the door. He risked a glance backwards and saw the figure holding the large tome now in one hand and casting spells with the other. Draco tried to once again figure out the wand movement—

—and ran head first into another shelf. A rather loud thud echoed through the room, for a while the poor Slytherin could see nothing but stars as pain obscured his vision and, perhaps most importantly, the large shelf, already weakened by a spell, began shaking dangerously. Draco jumped to one side as the shelf fell over like a large, graceful bear. It came down slowly, as if the time had stopped. But once its top hit another shelf, all hell really broke loose. The shelves fell like dominoes, one by one, faster and faster until with a loud crash the final one had no one else to push and it slammed into the floor.

Draco realized that he'd frozen, just outside the circle of falling bookcases. He sent one look towards the stranger who had by chance left inside the circle. Even though he couldn't really see the other's facial features, he thought there was fear in the other's expression too. For a few seconds both merely surveyed the carnage, frozen in place. Then, as if someone had given them the go signal, both took off running towards the open door out of the restricted section and the library.

Draco didn't look back again, nor did he stop running until he could duck into an alcove a few corridors from the library. He barely had the time to wrap his invisibility cloak around him when he heard footsteps. In the lead was Amycus Carrow, Filch leaping after him with considerably less enthusiasm.

"I'm sure I heard something!" declared the wizard. "And where the bloody hell is my sister?"

Filch shook his head and the man gave him a nasty glare: "Useless squib!" he muttered angrily.

"Maybe it's nothing. Mice, could be. Mrs Norris has been having—" began Filch and Draco thought for a moment that his ears needed checking, for he was sure he'd never see the day the old bitter bastard would try to cover for a student.

"Shut up, you fool!" snapped Carrow in disgust, probably thinking him a simpleton, and their voices grew distant as they disappeared past Draco's hiding place.

He waited just a bit, until he could barely hear their steps, then slipped out of the alcove and ran as fast as he could without the cloak slipping off him and without making too much noise. He didn't dare stop running before he reached the door and his voice shook so badly that it took two tries to say the password.

Only finally inside the walls and sure that the common room was empty, did Draco tear off his invisibility cloak and collapse into an armchair by the fire. He glanced down at the book, pressed hard against his chest, and took a few deep breaths, realizing he was safe for the time being.


	20. The Headmaster's Headache

**Super sorry about the delay. I discovered an error in the timeline of this story and lost my enthusiasm to continue and then disappeared under a mountain of other stuff. But I am back now and hoping to make my chapters more regular.**

 **Also, side note, I have taken liberties with how Occlumency works and made it a method of communication if both parties concentrate enough.**

* * *

Chapter 19 "The Headmaster's Headache"

Draco woke with a gasp and looked around. The first thing that he realized, was that the book was gone and he leapt out of the armchair with a gasp. The common room was empty and the clock on wall showed 6am. He cursed and looked around, to find the book, hoping maybe he'd dropped it in his sleep. Then his eyes settled on a tiny bottle on the coffee table next to a folded piece of paper. Draco unfolded it and saw in neat handwriting a short message:

 _Pleasure doing business with you._

Draco exhaled and slipped the bottle quickly into his robe pocket, then picked up the invisibility cloak and slipped out of the common room to find Tracey.

* * *

Headmaster Snape was not happy. This was probably a redundant statement for two reasons. One, it had been quite a while since Severus Snape had been truly happy and two, there was very little to be happy about lately, even if Snape were an optimist. But at least some days no one made his life intentionally worse. This was not to be one of these days.

Which in turn meant the headmaster was so _not happy_ that the vein in his forehead looked prominent enough to burst any second and even Argus Filch was wisely keeping his distance.

It was hard not to stand in the carnage that was once the restricted section of the library and not feel personally attacked by this blatant display of disrespect. Snape didn't much care for students and he tended to believe them pointless dunderheads most of the time but he'd expected at least a certain level of finesse from them. A finesse they'd be able to use when sneaking around after curfew. Thus surely if someone wanted to steal something from the library, then they'd be able to do so without ruining a large portion of ancient and valuable books and creating enough commotion to draw the attention of probably everything from the library to the deepest caves of the forbidden forest. But apparently that was far too much to ask.

Snape snarled and picked up an ancient tome by the corner. Well, more precisely what was left of the ancient tome. It had unfortunately been crushed under a corner of a heavy shelf and in addition struck with a spell that had slashed at the pages without mercy. The headmaster stared at the remains of the "The Most Complete History of Potions" in disgust and then discarded it back on the pile of other equally destroyed books.

"Do we know, who did this?" he asked from Amycus who apparently did not see the vein in his forehead nor had any respect for personal space as he stood nearly breathing on Snape's neck.

"Those brats of course. The same ones that wrote "Dumbledore's Army is recruting again" on the walls! I've been telling you, you need to teach them a lesson. The Weasley girl for example—"

Snape let Amycus rave on and turned his gaze to Filch who remained oddly quiet. Apparently the man had tried to insinuated this was the work of mice or other vermin. It sounded like a valiant effort but ultimately useless. Amycus might have had the intelligence of a below average rock, but even he wouldn't swallow that nonsense. Alas Peeves was not an option either, due to having been tormenting some roosters and keeping Hagrid up all night.

"Where's Alecto?" Snape demanded abruptly.

That snapped Amycus out of his rant and he shook his head quickly. "I don't know—"

"Well, find her, and let the prefects know I want all the students assembled in the Great Hall." He turned around his robes flowing, "And find someone to clean up this mess!" with that he stormed out of the library trying to figure out what the hell he was going to do.

* * *

Tracey buttoned up Alecto's black robes quickly and walked over to the door on which someone was hammering hard. Amycus looked angry with his sister for once.

"Where the hell have you been, Alecto?"

"Draco Malfoy had an issue he needed to consult with, he suspects something of the Ravenclaws," Tracey lied hoping it would not get anyone thrown under the bus. "Now why are you here, creating this ruckus that could wake the dead?"

"Someone's been to the restricted section. They destroyed books and furniture. Snape ordered a general assembly!"

Tracey made a face. "I'll be out in five minutes!"

"Right, just be quick. I don't want to get hexed again by Snape!" Amycus turned around and stalked off, leaving Tracey to ponder what exactly the Carrow siblings had done to end up getting hexed as Snape was not known for losing his temper easily.

She closed the door and glared at Malfoy, who was hiding behind it, holding his wand. "I thought you said I didn't have to worry about what happened last night. Now I kind of think I should."

Draco shrugged. "You said you needed Polyjuice. So I went out and I got you Polyjuice." He did look a tiny bit apologetic though.

Tracey glared at the boy and Draco found that it was rather intimidating. Kind of like getting stared down by a troll. He turned his gaze away. "There was someone else there. We had a short fight. Then we both fled into the night!"

The girl sighed. "Alright. We must play with the cards we were dealt with." She straightened her robes. "I just hope this doesn't get too bad."

"It's Snape, how bad could it get?" Draco shot back.

* * *

It turned out that it could get plenty bad. Every last one of the students were lined up in the Great Hall and had to stand there waiting with the professors. The Carrows stood guard at the headtable as usual and Tracey tried not to send too many nervous glances towards Draco.

Then the first issue arose as Snape would not begin until he found even the final students. Lisa Turpin was supported by Sue and looked like death warmed over. Tracey thought she saw Ginny glance at the girl and could almost see the wheels turning. Especially when Ginny's eyes turned to search for Tracey. And there in lay the bigger problem. She was not with her friends. Some people got a pass because they were in the hospital wing but she was most decidedly not there.

With care she slipped her hand into her pocket and felt for the small ring. She watched with care as Draco made a slight startled jump as the ring his pocket reacted. He pulled it out trying to be covert and after a second locked eyes with Tracey. She tried to convey the message in her head.

 _We're screwed if we don't get an alibi._

 _No, you're screwed._ came the reply.

 _You're a funny guy, Malfoy._

 _Nothing doing now, we'll make it up as we go._

 _The whole making it up as we go led to this fun assembly, maggot brain._

 _Hey, I got you the Poly-_

Severus Snape stormed in, causing Tracey to quickly raise her Occlumency shields and try to look as stern as possible. She wasn't sure she succeeded, but luckily even a vacant expression was quite usual on a Carrow's face. The headmaster paid her very little attention. He just stormed into his place at the front and attmepted, and succeeded, in staring down the whole school. After a few seconds he opened his mouth, his voice silky and calm. "Is everybody assembled here?" His eyes landed on the heads of houses.

One by one they stepped forward and gave their report, including the students in hospital wing. Tracey felt herself turn a shade whiter with every house. The professors seemed to agree with the sentiment. They all tried to quickly come up with reasons and fill the gaps in the lines. This time Snape was ruthless and Tracey thought bitterly, that he was letting his spite show through. When a student could not be found, he sent prefects after them and made the whole hall full of students wait. Everyone who showed up late, got a detention (though not all with a Carrow, it seemed Snape still had a small speck of mercy left for the younger ones).

That's when Tarcey begun to wonder if Snape was not trying to prove himself to someone else. He could not afford to lose control of the school and maybe this was his show of power? She was going to throw up. Her loyalties were already suspect in the eyes of the dark lord. She was a halfblood. She could not afford to be yanking Snape around. And Snape could not afford letting her slide.

At least Lisa and Sue were there and while Snape's eyes seemed to linger on the shaking girl, he didn't ask about it. Flitwick got through his students and then it was time for Slughorn.

 _Fuck._ Tracey bit her lip, completely forgetting her act for a moment and prayed for a miracle. Anything, please. Anything at all. She just needed a way out. A miracle.

"Tracey Davis?"

Slughorn stopped and looked around. He wasn't used to Tracey being the one who got in trouble. He was also not an acomplished liar. He was for a moment just confused. "I…I believe she is in hospital wing?"

Snape's eyes turned to Millicent Bulstrode. "Miss Bulstrode, you will run into the hospital wing and check if she's really there." he said silkily. The girl nodded and was off running.

 _She could lie._ prodded Malfoy's voice.

 _No, she can't._ thought Tracey. _Snape will find out and then we are all up shit creek without a paddle._

 _Vivid imagery. So what do you suggest?_

 _Ah fuck._ She hesitated. _Just throw me under the fucking bus. I'll deal with the fallout. Just do it._

 _Your funeral, Davis._

 _Send floweres to my grave._

"Sir?" Malfoy's voice was hesitant, as he took a step forward.

Snape's eyes landed on him. If looks could act, that glance would have pierced him through and through. "Yes?"

"She's not in the hospital wing. She's…She's…she snuck out."

"She…what?"

"We had a fight last night. In the common room."

"We did-" began Crabbe, followed by an "OUCH!" as Blaise's heel dug into his toes.

"We did!" the boy confirmed quickly. "I mean, they did. And she just took off and we haven't seen her sense."

"And I'm supposed to belive that, mister Zabini?" the headmaster took a menacing step forward.

Blaise lowered his eyes quickly. "No. Well, I mean, it is the truth. I…" he bit his lip. "We don't know where she went. We searched for her when you called the assembly."

"She wasn't in her room." confirmed Daphne Greengrass and Tracey tried not to look too stunned as the statuesque ice queen lied for her.

Parkinson looked like she was about to say something but then fell really quiet as her eyes narrowed and she looked at Malfoy.

Snape examined his lying snakes. Then he took a step back and shook his head. "Has anyone else seen Tracey Davis? I urge anyone who knows anything about her to step forward now or face most unpleasant consequences later!"

As expected, no one stepped forward, even though Tracey thought she saw Lisa's face lose the last of its colour. Snape narrowed his eyes, then turned suddenly. "Alecto, you will search this school from top to bottom and bring me miss Davis."

Tracey's head snapped up and she gaped like a fish out of water. Snape glared and she straightened herself quickly. "Yes, headmaster!" She took off running and nearly stumbled out of the hall, her feet weak under her and her head racing trying to figure out how to surface from under the bus where she had Draco throw her.


	21. Out from Under the Bus

**I really should stop making promises about updates. But I can promise at least, that this story isn't abandoned!**

Chapter 20 "Out from Under the Bus"

There were two sides to this problem. On the one side, there was Alecto Carrow who she had to appear as and on the other was Tracey Davis and as much as her mind raced, Tracey could not come up with a solution where it would not be immediately clear that something was going on. She was entirely sure that no matter how much she stalled and claimed not to find Tracey Davis, Snape was quite comfortable with letting the school stand lined up in the Great Hall and wait it out. She could not get any other of the conspirators to change places with her and there was no one else she could use to continue the masquerade.

Tracey dodged into an empty classroom and collapsed against the wall, breathing heavily. She clawed at her throat to loosen the collar. There was cold sweat running down her spine and she felt like vomiting. This was a corner and she had well and truly painted herself into it.

There was one solution. She could go and throw herself at Snape's mercy and pray to whatever deity that was listening that the man would find it in his heart to help her out of the mess.

Only could she really? Snape's actions indicated he was establishing his control over the school. And he had to give his boss an explanation too. Even if he himself wouldn't murder her, once the story reached Voldemort, Tracey was as good as dead anyway.

Her nails dug into skin and left red marks as she tried to force her shoulders from shaking. There had to be a way out. There just had. This could not be the end.

"Trace?"

The voice made Tracey jump and go for her wand but when she looked up, it was only Millicent looking down at her. She stood up quickly and tried to appear nochalant as she wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "Yes, Millie? What is it?"

"We're in trouble, aren't we?"

"Yes, we are." Tracey confirmed, realizing she hadn't even considered the others. It would be a hard sell to convince Snape that this was all her plan and execution. As much as she wanted to be brave and believe that she wouldn't give her friends up, she knew realistically that there were ways to make her talk she could never resist.

Millicent nodded slowly. "I feared as much." She folded her arms and bit her lip. "So how are we going to fix it?"

Tracey glanced up. "Fix it? There's no way to fix this mess, Millie. I can't be in two places at once."

Millicent bit her lip again, this time more thoughtfully then smiled. "Then don't be!"

"Millie, he is not going to let us switch with anyone."

"Yes, he is." Millicent replied slowly. She rolled her lower lip between her teeth before nodding. "He is going to, because he won't know about it."

"How can he not know about it? What will you do, spell someone out from the Great Hall? He'll have a head count again and if someone else is missing, there'll be hell to pay!"

Millicent merely smiled and Tracey realized she had never really seen her friend look so…cunning. "Trace, I have a plan. If it fails, the consequences will be no worse than you marching in there right now and revealing yourself as an imposter."

Tracey shook her head. This didn't sound encouraging at all. In fact, she was quite worried by how proud of herself Millicent sounded. No one that had wore such a cunning expression ever offered her a half-decent plan. But there was no other way that she could see so she nodded. "What do you need me to?"

"First, you're going to need to go get your hairbrush!"

* * *

About forty-five minutes later Tracey Davis stumbled back into the Great Hall, panting and cursing Alecto's dreadfully uncomfortable boots. Immediately as she entered, Snape's eyes locked on to her. "Well?" he demanded.

"Sir, I have managed to locate miss Davis!" she replied, grimacing at the stitch in her side. She really had to excersise more if she was going to be this much running.

Snape's scowl stayed firmly in place. "So why isn't she here? Were my instructions too hard to follow for you?"

"There was…ah…a problem with that. She's…" she glanced down at her shoes trying to figure out how Alecto would phrase it. "She is unconscious in the fifth floor corridor on the stairs up to the Astronomy tower. I…I thought you might want to see it for yourself!"

The look in Snape's eyes said that he decidedly didn't want to see anything for himself unless it was a public hanging but nevertheless he gave a nod. "Amycus, everyone else is to remain here. No one leaves the Great Hall until I return!"

Amycus replied with a nasty smile that indicated he'd give his left hand for someone to try and leave and Tracey felt a chill run down her spine. She wished with every fiber of her being that no one would be stupid enough to actually do it. As she turned to lead Snape out, her eyes met Draco's.

 _What's the plan?_

 _Trust me, you do not want to know!_

 _But we'll be alright?_

 _Only if we are the luckiest bastards since that wizard who confronted Voldemort armed with a stick of asparagus and lived to tell the tale._

The corner of Malfoy's mouth twitched every so lightly before he could control himself. _So it's hopeless then. My parents were happily married by the time I came along._

 _Sod off, Malfoy!_ Tracey turned her eyes away before she would do something foolish and rash that would betray them. Snape was already impatiently waiting for her.

"Today, Alecto, if at all possible!" he snapped.

They walked through the hallways in complete silence. On the one hand, that was good. It didn't give Tracey any chances to stuff the whole thing up by letting something slip. On the other hand, it gave her ample time to ponder on just what the hell she was doing. Her heart already beat so hard in her chest, it was a wonder one could not see its outline popping out and back. She stumbled twice and the only mercy she got was that since she was leading the way, Snape could not see her face.

The walk to the astronomy tower seemed to last an eternity and Tracey wondered if that was how it felt to walk up to the gallows.

She was being over dramatic of course, Voldemort would never have done something as muggle as a hanging. She'd get the killing curse like so many others before her. Maybe some of them could be spared. Those, who's parents were involved with Death Eaters…could their mothers and fathers plead for them? Or would they be made an example out of for just that reason?

"Headmaster, over here! She needs help!" exclaimed Millicent.

Hearing her voice, Snape pushed past Tracey and came to a halt in front of the body lying at the bottom of the stairs.

It belonged unmistakably to Tracey Davis. She had the same hair and build, though her face was obscured by the robes that had shifted to cover her. On the floor near…her…body, she saw a bit of blood.

"I have been trying to revive her," babbled Millicent, "But I think she needs madam Pomfrey."

Tracey strolled forward, getting a hold of herself and struck the body in the side with the tip of her shoe. "And I told you, insolent girl, that she is fine. She just doesn't want to get up and face the consequences of running off and getting drunk!" She gestured at the broken bottle of firewhiskey lying some inches from the unconscious figure's left hand.

Snape glanced at the shards and then sneered at Alecto. "And is that your opinion as a medical professional?"

Tracey took a step back quickly. She still wasn't sure, where Snape drew the line—before or after using curses on Carrows. "I…I only meant, headmaster, that you wanted to know immediately where she was!"

"I did. And she needs medical help."

"She's just drunk."

Snape glared at her. "She has a head wound. She has obviously fallen down the stairs." he turned towards Millicent, "Go get madame Pomfrey. Only she can tell us if it's safe to move her!"

Millicent nodded and took off running.

Tracey fought back the urge to bite her lip. "I thought you wanted to question her about last night?"

"Are you doubting my orders?" Snape asked, taking a single step closer to Tracey.

She swallowed hard as she wondered how far she could push the situation. All she needed was a little more defensiveness from Snape. "I…no of course not, sir. I just thought you'd want information as soon as possible! After all, she is just a half-blood."

"Good." Snape gestured at the girl, "Does she look in the condition to be questioned? Once madame Pomfrey has her stitched up, I assure you, miss Davis and I will be having a very long conversation about the events of last night! But for that to happen, half-blood or not, she has to at least be conscious."

Tracey nodded. "I...of course."

Snape looked liked he was going to say something else but then someone rounded the corner. Millicent led Madame Pomfrey who looked quite nervous. Snape gave them a single glance. "Miss Davis has been in an accident. Fix her up and let me know immediately when she can be questioned!"

Without waiting for a response, he turned on his heels and walked off, Tracey hesitantly walking after him but sneaking glances over her shoulder as the unconscious body was loaded on a stretcher and floated away, Millicent walking next to it and Madame Pomfrey in the front, a distinct expression on her face that if Snape ever needed any medical attention, all he would get from the matron would be intentionally infected with sepsis.

Snape headed back the Great Hall without a second glance and there finished confirming the locations of all students. After he'd made sure no one else was missing, he finally dismissed everyone back to their classes. Getting no other instructions from Snape, Tracey quickly slipped out of the Great Hall and headed back towards the hospital wing.

On her way, she was suddenly yanked behind a tapestry and as she whipped out her wand, she came face to face with Draco.

"What the hell happened? Is it resolved?" the boy demanded.

"No," Tracey replied, tucking her wand away again. "Now comes the hard part."

"What's that?"

"Switching the drugged up Alecto Carrow who is polyjuiced to look like me for the real article, before madame Pomfrey manages to wake her and she comes to slit all of our throats!" Tracey replied, wondering how she had managed to say it with such a calm tone of voice.

Draco just stared at her. "Tracey, what the hell?" he managed to blurt out after a few seconds.

Tracey shrugged her shoulders. "Millie had a plan."


End file.
